Orange County landfill pushes limit

For years, controversy surrounding the Orange County Landfill's closing has riddled both county leaders and residents.

The landfill, which is expected to reach capacity around June 2010, will be sealed, and all trash will start being shipped out of the county, said Gayle Wilson, solid waste management director.

Rogers-Eubanks community members, who have been neighbors to the landfill since it opened, have complained about its impact, but leaders say the transfer station's effects will be minimal.

After touring a similar site in Greensboro last year, Commissioner Mike Nelson said the closed-in facility would hold trash for no more than a few hours.

"The impact will be a lot less than a landfill," Nelson said in March 2007.

Lack of space for another landfill in Orange County led commissioners to decide on a waste-transfer station, a closed facility that will receive waste and ship it back out on trucks.

"Probably once we decide where our transfer station is going to be, we will . solicit proposals from various landfills that are interested in receiving our waste," Wilson said.

He said landfills will quote prices they will charge Orange County for its waste and the commissioners will pick the most viable option, based on the landfill's location and other elements such as whether it's in a minority neighborhood.

The price will likely be in the $22- to $28-per-ton range, Wilson said. In 2005 the landfill took about 85,650 tons of waste. At that rate, it would cost $1.9 million to $2.4 million annually.

The county's 2007 commissioner-approved budget appropriated just more than $4 million to total landfill operations. But new state legislation likely will cause transfer prices to increase, Wilson said.

Once a landfill is closed, it must also be properly maintained for at least 30 years to ensure harmful chemicals don't leach into the groundwater, Wilson said.

The county's first landfill opened in 1972 and closed in 1995, when new regulations forced the county to open a new landfill adjacent to the original site.

The new one boasted a liner, which the 1972 landfill doesn't have. The county sealed the landfill by placing a 3-foot soil cover on top of it and planting vegetation to prevent erosion.

As waste decomposes, new soil must be added to fill in holes. Monitoring wells near the landfill must be tested semiannually for water contamination. If the tests show stabilized results after 30 years, the state may release the county from financial responsibility, Wilson said.

He added that when the 1995 landfill reaches capacity, it will be sealed with plastic and soil, according to modern requirements.

The Orange County Landfill doesn't take toxic medical waste or construction waste, for which there is a separate landfill.

Medical waste has to be treated before it is accepted at the landfill, and much of it is incinerated rather than buried. The construction demolition landfill is expected to last another 20 years, Wilson said.

UNC contributes about 10 percent of the landfill's waste, not including hospital waste. In 2006-07, 5,785 tons were sent to the landfill, said B.J. Tipton, UNC Solid Waste Program manager.

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