While one landfill in Madison County has been struck down by the Department of Environmental Quality another is trying to expand its current dumping grounds. But serious legal questions linger over if it’s done properly. Since 1986 the City of Canton has been operating this landfill off Soldier Colony Rd. Taking in non-hazardous waste from six different counties. To keep services up city leaders believe it’s time to grow but many legal checkpoints aren’t adding up in the necessary order.
The Canton landfill is reaching capacity with only a few years of life left pushing the city to file for a lateral expansion. “We have about three years left and anytime you’re developing a landfill you need to plan for the future,” Melon Garrett, Director of the Landfill told us.
“It is critically important for the citizens to know that in three years they’ll be no place for them to put their garbage,” Mayor William Truly Jr. added. “That’s why the city along with the director is working extraordinarily hard to go on and build additional cells.”
But first, the land must be properly zoned and per zoning laws. In Canton’s website’s most recent zone map, the property is listed as an industrial park. Meaning the dump only has to be 1,000 feet from residential areas. But MDEQ contradicted this when the expansion was first proposed.