The last month has seen public and private landfill operators push forward with expansion plans. WM in particular has notched some wins as it pushes to expand its existing facilities, though additional hurdles remain.
Elsewhere, public solid waste authorities are grappling with their own capacity needs. Below is a selection of landfill news from the last month.
WM wins key vote to expand Pennsylvania landfill
WM moved one step closer to expanding its Grand Central Landfill in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, earning an steep slope restrictions exemption from Plainfield Township, Lehigh Valley News reported. The expansion would add 20 years of capacity at a facility that currently has about five years of capacity left, according to WM.
The vote allows WM to press forward with a new 81-acre cell on a 211-acre lot adjacent to the existing landfill. WM says it plans to maintain existing waste volumes at the site, totaling up to 3,000 tons per day.
The landfill first opened in 1951 and was sold to USA Waste in 1997, which was later acquired by WM. WM built a landfill-gas-to-energy plant at the site in 2001, which supplies enough electricity to power about 8,000 homes, according to the Green Knight Economic Development Corporation, a partnership between local officials and WM.
WM has been attempting to receive approval for this expansion for more than five years. In 2020, Lehigh Valley Live reported WM secured an agreement with a neighboring farm to purchase the property now planned for the expansion.
The company still needs another vote of approval from the township's board of supervisors. The expansion is also subject to review by the state's Department of Environmental Protection.
WM settles Monarch Hill Landfill lawsuit in Coconut Creek
In Florida, WM cleared local opposition to its planned expansion of the Monarch Hill Landfill. The facility had received approval from Broward County to expand, but faced a legal challenge from the towns of Coconut Creek and Deerfield Beach, which neighbor the landfill. The two towns agreed to settle, and the county commission signed off on the settlement in August.
WM will close the landfill after it reaches the limits set by its most recent expansion agreement with Broward County — 325 feet high across 24 additional acres, according to TAPinto Coconut Creek. That would keep the landfill in operation until roughly 2050.
As part of the agreement, WM has also upped the commitments it made to the two towns. It will pay a 5% host fee to each, and add odor-control measures and groundwater monitoring.
WM also agreed to rename the site so it would no longer be named after a butterfly, according to WLRN.
Permitting, expansion and lawsuit news
- The Bay Area Air Quality District in California sued Acme Fill Corporation over alleged air quality violations stemming from methane leaks the district identified during inspections. The landfill formerly accepted hazardous waste and currently accepts certain solid wastes. (CBS News Bay Area)
- Greenwood County, South Carolina, is building a landfill cell for $10 million that it expects to complete by the end of the year. The cell adds capacity for 1.2 million tons of trash and is expected to last the county about 12 years. (Index-Journal)
- The Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District in Massachusetts is pitching a new 3.5-acre cell expected to extend the life of the Crapo Hill Landfill by seven years. The cell is within the existing plan for the landfill, which can accept up to 574 tons of MSW per day. (Waste Today)
- The solid waste board in Scott County, Tennessee, sent a letter to the state's Department of Environment and Conservation urging regulators not to approve a new landfill proposed by Trans-Rail Waste Services. The facility would be adjacent to Waste Connections' existing Volunteer Regional Landfill, which local officials say already provides enough capacity. (The Independent Herald)
