NOTE 9. CLOSURE AND POST-CLOSURE OBLIGATIONS

Our accrued closure and post-closure liability represents the expected future costs, including corrective actions, associated with closure and post-closure of our operating and non-operating disposal facilities. We record the fair value of our closure and post-closure obligations as a liability in the period in which the regulatory obligation to retire a specific asset is triggered. For our individual landfill cells, the required closure and post-closure obligations under the terms of our permits and our intended operation of the landfill cell are triggered and recorded when the cell is placed into service and waste is initially disposed in the landfill cell. The fair value is based on the total estimated costs to close the landfill cell and perform post-closure activities once the landfill cell has reached capacity and is no longer accepting waste. We perform periodic reviews of both non-operating and operating facilities and revise accruals for estimated closure and post-closure, remediation or other costs as necessary. Recorded liabilities are based on our best estimates of current costs and are updated periodically to include the effects of existing technology, presently enacted laws and regulations, inflation and other economic factors.

Changes to closure and post-closure obligations consisted of the following:

	Three Months Ended
$s in thousands	March 31, 2017

Closure and post-closure obligations, beginning of period	$	75,082
Accretion expense	1,073
Payments	(270		)
Foreign currency translation	14

Closure and post-closure obligations, end of period	75,899
Less current portion	(2,257		)

Long-term portion	$	73,642