Dive Brief:
- In public hearings and written comments, landfill operators are pushing back against the New York Department of Environmental Conservation's proposal to set a 99.9% limit on what commenters say would be more than 250 contaminants in landfill leachate.
- The proposal comes amid criticism from environmental and public health groups who say leachate contains harmful compounds like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and dioxane that slip through water treatment processes unregulated.
- Industry voices, including those from WM, Casella Waste Systems and the National Waste & Recycling Association, say additional controls could be implemented on leachate, but criticized the proposal as overly broad and expensive.
Dive Insight:
The statewide proposal comes after the U.S. EPA has committed to at least some restrictions on PFAS in drinking water. It’s also examining effluent limitation guidelines for a range of industrial facilities, including landfills, which it had previously indicated it would release in 2027.
The New York DEC announced its proposal in July. If implemented, it would be the first state rule to specifically require landfill operators to treat leachate for contaminants. The proposal comes amid broader concerns and state regulatory action around PFAS and 1,4-dioxane, two contaminants used in consumer products that can leach into water.
In supporting documents, the agency estimated 25 active municipal solid waste landfills and seven active C&D debris landfills would be affected by the proposal. As written, the proposal would require landfill operators to develop a leachate treatment plan within one year of when the rule becomes effective and gives wastewater facilities four years to continue receiving leachate from landfills as they transition to more advanced treatment systems.
The proposal anticipates the creation of specialized leachate treatment facilities that could manage the material on site. The NWRA said rules regarding whether wastewater treatment facilities can still receive leachate and under what pretreatment protocols remain unclear.
The industry group laid out seven recommendations in its public comments. It specifically called out the 99.9% limit, joining with individual companies that claimed a universal limit could approach the limits of detection. They said any rules on contaminants should be based on research for each contaminant that includes detection methods and available treatment technology.
Sam Nicolai, Casella's vice president of engineering and compliance, also flagged company concerns with the proposal. Among other issues, he highlighted costs, which includes DEC’s projections that treatment facilities could cost anywhere from $3 million to $50 million with annual operating costs of about $1.5 million to $8 million.
“This is an extraordinarily expensive and wasteful approach to leachate management and a missed opportunity to develop a well-coordinated approach to PFAS,” Nicolai said during the hearing.
WM assisted with NWRA's comments and submitted its own written feedback. The company further cast doubt on the total PFAS that landfill leachate contributed to water systems compared to other upstream sources.
It cited state studies conducted in Michigan and North Carolina in 2019 and 2020, respectively. North Carolina’s study found average leachate contribution of PFOS, PFOA and 1,4-dioxane ranged from 0.3% to 10.2% of total contaminant presence, with an average of 3.3%, levels which were corroborated by the earlier Michigan study, WM said in comments.
"Although these studies predate some of the more recent developments in PFAS science and regulation, they provide valuable empirical information concerning the relative contribution of landfill leachate to wastewater treatment systems and demonstrate the importance of evaluating PFAS within the context of the complete waste and wastewater management system," Jeffrey Richardson, WM's director of disposal operations for the New England-New York market area, wrote.
Operators of publicly owned landfills like the town of Brookhaven also criticized the proposal during a Sept. 2 public comment hearing. Christine Fetten, who leads Brookhaven’s Department of Recycling and Sustainable Materials Management, said the 99.9% limit “is not consistent with past rules and regulations” regarding water. She also said the proposal would make designing new systems for treatment facilities “very, very difficult.”
Several local officials said a regional approach, in which centrally located facilities handled leachate from multiple landfills, would be the easiest way to keep treatment costs low and avoid unnecessarily duplicating efforts.
The public comment period for DEC’s proposal closed on Sept. 9. The agency is now reviewing comments.
