Burlington Reassesses Landfill Charges

On September 3 the freeholders reviewed a proposed amendment to the county's overall solid-waste-management plan that would offer two-year contracts to the municipalities that continue to bring their solid waste to the county facility. The amendment now must muster public approval on September 24 , followed by DEP sanction.

The freeholders also plan to offer one-year contracts to the waste haulers who currently use the county facility. Such contracts would stipulate that the haulers continue to dump at least the same amount of trash they currently are dumping and that the waste come from within the county.

The tipping fee for dumping waste in the landfill, reportedly the lowest in the state, would increase to $50.45 per ton from $49.50, primarily to cover state-ordered increases in "host benefit" fees. The fees would rise another 3 percent in the contract's second year. After that, the county would reassess the program, according to a freeholder who oversees the Office of Solid Waste.

To lessen the allure of lower out-of-state disposal costs, the county will continue to provide curbside recycling services and access to the county's landfill complex Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Facility. Municipalities exercising their right to use disposal services elsewhere would have to pay additionally for curbside-recycling pickup.

It remains unclear whether the county will accept garbage from out of county should it fall short in securing contracts, although that is an option, said one freeholder. Municipalities generate roughly half the 375,000 tons of trash dumped in the county landfill each year, with the rest coming from commercial waste haulers.

Edited by Paul Hersch