Wichita ? Residents of Marion rejected efforts to build a large landfill, making it the fourth area to turn away Wichita’s trash.

The vote in Marion was scheduled before the Harper County Commission approved a zoning change last week to allow Waste Connections to build a landfill near the town of Harper.

Landfill opponents in Harper County are hoping to remove commissioners from office before they can negotiate a final contract to take Wichita’s trash.

What to do with a billion pounds of trash a year has been an issue since 1997, when Sedgwick County commissioners decided they didn’t want to build a new landfill in their county.

Butler, Elk and Greenwood counties also rejected Wichita’s trash.

Wichita’s garbage now is being dumped at a site in Meno, Okla., about 20 miles west of Enid, Okla.

Marion Mayor Elois Mueller said her town will no longer pursue the landfill. “I don’t see any future in going ahead with it if the people don’t want it,” she said.

A total of 357 people voted no on the question of whether a landfill should be built at a rock quarry inside city limits. The other 258 voted yes.

Opponents feared the landfill would increase truck traffic, create dust and odor, and pollute water supplies.

Supporters said it would bring in much-needed revenue, and could earn the county as much as $1 million.

Diana Costello, an English teacher at Marion High School, said she was pleased with the result.

Costello said she was against the landfill at its planned location.

Rocky Hett, a Marion businessman who owns the quarry where the landfill is proposed, said it was promising that only 99 votes separated those on both sides.

“It shows the opposition is weak,” he said.

Although the ballot did not specify what company would own the landfill or where the trash would originate, Waste Connections the largest trash hauler in Wichita has an option to buy the land from Hett.

Mueller said she wanted to put the issue to a vote because of the controversy it had generated in the community.