For the Region 2000 Services Authority, the year 2029 looms close on the horizon as the estimated date at which the regional landfill in Rustburg will reach capacity.

During the past few years, authority staff and board members have explored possible options for the region’s solid waste disposal through 2050 once the life of the landfill has expired. Authority staff members presented a short list of options in a meeting this week for the Campbell County Board of Supervisors to consider during the next few months.

The existing landfill on Livestock Road accepts solid waste from the city of Lynchburg and the counties of Appomattox, Campbell and Nelson. Representatives from each locality sit on the Region 2000 Services Authority Board, which must make the final decision about future waste disposal options for its members.

However, they first must seek input from local officials and citizens to determine how the authority will handle solid waste after the landfill reaches capacity. The permitting process for a new landfill can take up to 10 years, which is the reason localities must begin considerations now.

Authority Director Clarke Gibson said his team solicited public input about future options through work group meetings, service authority meetings, focus groups, website surveys and a September 2016 public informational forum. Authority staff also received input from major commercial haulers who use the current landfill.

The working group was composed of representatives from all four local governments. They reviewed “viable, doable options that are available to us today with today’s technology on how to manage solid waste,” according to Gibson.

The first option presented for solid waste disposal post-2029 was a transfer station. If the authority chose this scenario, waste disposal trucks would enter the facility, dump waste on concrete floors and then exit the facility. Once a certain amount of waste accumulates on the floor, it is loaded onto a tractor-trailer that hauls it to another landfill.

Gibson said the authority likely would use a private landfill in Amelia County if officials chose this option. The projected cost of service for a transfer site is $62 per ton for members, nearly double the current rate of $30.25 per ton.

The second proposed option is expanding the current landfill in Rustburg onto an adjoining property owned by the services authority board to add 20 years to the life of the landfill. Gibson said this alternative adds 60 acres to the current landfill but still stays within Campbell County’s approved landfill district.

He said the authority previously presented an expansion plan for this tract of land, referred to as the Bennett property, to the Campbell County Planning Commission in 2015 but since has reduced the footprint of the expansion to 60 acres of actual landfill use.

“We [also] provided much larger buffers between our property line and the adjoining property lines,” Gibson added.

To read the full story, visit http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/as-regional-landfill-moves-toward-capacity-stakeholders-seek-solid-waste/article_052a312e-596f-11e8-84a8-fb3a1e29e127.html.

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