Lowland Waste Solutions presented its proposal to the Morristown-Hamblen Solid Waste Board to the Morristown City Council and Hamblen County Commission to establish a new demolition landfill. It was unanimously approved it last month. Patrick McGuffin, who owns Lowland Waste Solutions along with his brother Frank McGuffin, said it will be a long process before the proposed landfill is even active. The proposal will have to be approved by the two bodies then go through a permitting process with the state’s environmental agency. “It’s a long ways away,” he said. “It’ll take us at least two years.”

The proposed site is on state Route 160 at the site of the old Liberty Fibers plant in the Lowland area. The site is currently under the name of LLM, LLC, which is owned by Harold Nichols. It was also once owned by Mark Sawyer, Nichols’ son-in-law, who pleaded guilty in 2015 for a felony of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act by improperly disposing of asbestos on the property and potentially harming employees and residents in the area.

The McGuffins’ formerly owned Tidi Waste, a waste collection agency that also had a landfill. The brothers then sold the company and landfill to Waste Industries, the current managers of the landfill. The noncompete clause with Waste Industries is now finished, so the brothers decided to enter once again into the landfill business. Frank McGovern said Friday they felt there is a need for a construction and demolition landfill within the county.

The county’s finance committee had approved the same resolution Monday during its work session. He said it would be for three separate grants, totaling up to $200,000 with a 40 percent match. Brittain asked the Solid Waste Board to finance the project, which would mean up to $80,000. “The maximum would be $200,000,” Brittain said. “It doesn’t mean we’d spend it all.” The board voted unanimously 9-0 to approve financing the measure.

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