Durham, NC’s population grew by nearly 25 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to U.S. Census data. The steady flow of construction projects near downtown Durham are producing taller and taller buildings by the week, it seems. Nearly 302,000 people call Durham home as of Oct. 1, 2022, with an additional 49,000 people living in the county, according to numbers provided by the City of Durham’s Planning Department. Population growth at this level can come with a few downsides, such as traffic congestion, longer wait times to be seated at popular eateries — and more trash.
Durham’s landfill closed in 1997, so now the city sends its solid waste to the Sampson County Landfill. Trash collected from city and county residents, commercial haulers and contractors is brought to a transfer station on East Club Boulevard near the Interstate 85 interchange. There the trash is loaded onto large transport trailers and trucked to Sampson County, according to Wayne Fenton, acting director, City of Durham Solid Waste Management.
“When you look at the demographics of the people who are negatively impacted by the trash we produce, it’s not an overstatement to say that everything we think is ‘getting thrown away’ is getting deposited in a low-wealth community,” said Crystal Dreisbach, founder of Don’t Waste Durham, a nonprofit whose mission is to eliminate waste.