Madison County’s Landfill - A Valuable Resource Now and in the Future

Press Release 3/12/24 From an Ad Hoc Group Against The Privatization of the Madison County Landfill

Solid waste disposal is an ever-present concern for local governments across the country. We can encourage people to reduce, recycle, and re-use. Even so, landfills have been needed for decades and will be essential for decades to come. 

Most communities are not prepared to deal with this challenge. There is a shortage of landfill capacity, and landowners will fight for years to keep landfills out of their backyard. As a result, trash is being trucked across NY State as governments desperately search for ways to get rid of it. For example, Tompkins County has no landfill, and ships its trash to the Ontario County landfill, which has only 5 years of capacity remaining. What happens after that? 

In the early 2000s Madison County’s Solid Waste & Recycling Committee obtained DEC approval of a 135-year Landfill Expansion Plan, an accomplishment that has never before or since been achieved anywhere in the US. We still have 125 years of capacity available under our current permit for 60,000 tons per year (TPY).. Our 2004 Solid Waste plan and associated Local Law #3 of 2004 governing Flow Control laid the groundwork for a long term, truly sustainable program.

Madison County (‘the County”) recently hired Cornerstone Engineering and Geology to study and advise us about the future management of our landfill. Their 2023 report describes the scarcity of available landfill space across the state. We have more years of landfill capacity available at our current usage rate than any other municipal landfill in the state, and almost 5 times the state average. This is a valuable resource for our small county, but it could disappear quickly if trash starts arriving from places across, and even outside of, NY State, because Madison County’s landfill is also one of the smallest in NY state. 

The current Madison County Board of Supervisors (BOS) is considering handing over operation of our landfill to a private operator. In return for cash payments to the county, this for-profit operator will reduce the lifetime of Madison County’s landfill by 80%, from 100+ years to only 25 years, by importing hundreds of truckloads of trash every week from whatever sources bring the private operator the most profit. The County Board of Supervisors will no longer have any control over the landfill operation. 

The Madison County Board of Supervisors is considering entering into a long term Operation, Management and Lease Agreement (“OMLA”) with New England Waste Services of New York, Inc. (NEWSNY) a wholly owned subsidiary of Casella Waste Systems (“Casella”), a large company that operates throughout the Northeast and has been cited and fined for many recent violations worthy of concern. NEWSNY operates the Ontario County landfill under a private/public partnership similar to the one they propose for Madison County. Recently NEWSNY and Ontario County were fined $500,000 by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for “many environmental violations from 2015 to 2022 that affected air quality, water quality, and solid waste operations, and overall quality of life for the community.” Does NEWSNY sound like a good partner for our county? 

In late 2023 the Madison County Board of Supervisors was poised to move ahead. If the resolutions key to this decision had not been tabled at their December 19 public hearing, the BOS could have proceeded to bind itself to a contract that would cost the county tens of millions of dollars if it is terminated early. Meanwhile, proceeding with the contract would cut our landfill’s life by more than 80 years.

Madison County will need a full Environmental Impact Study to look at the potential effects of handing over operation of our landfill to a private company. As this report demonstrates, it is beyond question that the NEWSNY proposal will have very significant impacts on Madison County’s environment and quality of life. 

A few of the questions that must be honestly evaluated include: 

Will multiple massive tractor tractor trailer loads of waste from outside Madison County clog and destroy our roadways and negatively impact our communities and quality of life? Yes. Trash from across the state will travel through our county en route to the landfill, while rats and other vermin come along for the ride.

Just as importantly, a massive amount of imported waste will reduce the Madison County Landfill’s 100+ year life span down to about 25 years. Where will solid waste generated by our county’s businesses and residents go after our landfill is closed? 

Are short-term financial issues triggering a short-sighted solution with long term adverse impacts for our county and its residents? Is there no better answer?

We believe there is a better answer. This report conveys our analysis of the Landfill’s operational history and current problems, and recommends solutions to keep Madison County in control of its operation.

Background

In 1989, the Madison County Board of Supervisors decided to establish the Madison County’s Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation (“Solid Waste Department”) and pay for trash disposal by using a scale system and charging for trash by the ton, instead of relying on property taxes. The rationales behind the decision to rely on user fees are: 1) different households and businesses generate varying amounts of trash, which are not necessarily directly related to the value of the real estate they own, and 2) charging by the amount of trash is an incentive for reducing the amount of trash we create.

The operating principle was “Trash pays for trash.”

• Morris Matters will be doing a Podcast on Solid Waste and the problems both statewide and specifically with Madison County