Several North American landfill projects have recently received key approvals, while others faced legal and regulatory headwinds. 

Here’s a look at some notable developments so far in September and October:

WIN Waste gets green light for landfill expansion

WIN Waste Innovations earned approval from the Ohio EPA to expand its landfill in Seneca County. The facility, formerly known as Sunny Farms Landfill, accepts MSW, C&D waste, soils and other specialty wastes, according to WIN Waste's website. The expansion will allow up to 94 acres, representing less than half of the company's initial request, local news station WTVG reported.

The expansion has been controversial, garnering opposition from county commissioners and other local politicians. WIN Waste says it's not negatively impacting the area at the landfill.

State regulators conducted more than 150 inspections of the landfill this year, according to Mary Urban, senior director of communications and community at WIN Waste. She said the company plans to invest $19 million into the expansion, adding 15 local jobs. 

WIN Waste also invested in a $54 million advanced hydrogen sulfide treatment system at the facility last year, which it says “should virtually eliminate sulfur odors from the landfill.” Those odors were a persistent issue that led to a consent order prior to when WIN Waste became the owner of the landfill.

WIN Waste was formed by infrastructure firm Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, which combined Wheelabrator Technologies with Tunnel Hill Partners, as well as other entities. The landfill was formerly a Tunnel Hill asset.

“Our investment in our Ohio facilities matches the commitment to protecting the health and well-being of all our communities while also providing essential waste disposal,” Urban said in an emailed statement. She said WIN’s investments to date “are a small piece of the hundreds of millions of dollars we invest annually to ensure our facilities operate at the highest level of efficiency and safety.”

The Seneca County Board of Health voted unanimously to appeal the Ohio EPA’s decision on Sept 26. That appeal is still pending.

Casella can move forward with Juniper Ridge expansion after public benefit determination

The Casella Waste Systems-operated Juniper Lidge Landfill is one step closer to expanding after Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection issued a favorable public benefit determination.

The state-owned site could expand by 61 acres, which would add 11.9 million cubic yards of additional capacity. The landfill is currently projected to reach capacity in 2028 and this could extend its lifespan by 11 years. The landfill currently accepts trash from numerous Maine municipalities, as well as 25,000 tons of waste from outside the state, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Maine DEP’s final public benefit determination, a requirement for moving forward with expansion plans, says the project is necessary to meet state capacity needs and would meet requirements to divert recyclable materials.

The report says the project is “not inconsistent with ensuring environmental justice for the community” as long as Casella agrees to several operational actions. Casella will be required to install a treatment system for managing PFAS in landfill leachate and hire a third-party consultant to conduct an odor analysis. Casella must also conduct two additional surface scans per year to monitor for fugitive landfill gas emissions and create a system to alert the public about “ significant landfill events in near real time.”

Maine DEP’s draft determination, released earlier this summer, drew significant opposition. Some environmental and community groups said expanding the landfill would encourage disposal over diversion and recycling and would expose the nearby community to odors and pollutants, particularly during landfill fires like the one that took place in May 2023.

GFL will delay Peoria landfill opening by a decade

GFL Environmental and Peoria County, Illinois, have agreed to delay opening a new landfill, known as Landfill 3, by 10 years. GFL instead will build and operate a transfer station nearby, which city and county officials say will help decrease disposal costs by $1.5 million a year and avoid litigation with GFL.

The updated agreement, which has been approved by county and local officials, allows for GFL to build a transfer station to be operational by 2026 while continuing to move forward with plans to build Landfill 3 by Jan. 1, 2035. 

The previous developer of Landfill 3, Peoria Disposal Co., originally made an agreement with city and county officials in 2009 to start accepting waste at Landfill 3 by 2014. However, GFL acquired PDC in 2021 and began seeking alternatives that would delay building the landfill, according to the Peoria County Board. 

GFL and officials negotiated an alternative plan throughout 2021 and 2022, but such negotiations broke down. The parties “headed towards litigation,” in part because Peoria officials worried that Landfill 3 would not be ready to accept waste by the time nearby Landfill 2, run by WM, had reached capacity, according to county documents. 

Under the new agreement, GFL will pay the county $300,000 once Landfill 2 closes. It will also start an opt-in collection service for residents in unincorporated Peoria County with a set rate for weekly garbage and bi-weekly recycling collection services. 

Republic Services subsidiary sued again at Sunshine Canyon Landfill

Browning-Ferris Industries of California, a subsidiary of Republic Services, is the target of a mass tort lawsuit filed on behalf of residents living near the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Los Angeles County. The lawsuit alleges that the operator impacted the health of thousands of nearby residents through negligent operations of the landfill, The San Fernando Valley Sun reported.

This is not the first lawsuit filed against Republic’s subsidiary over the landfill. The company settled a class action lawsuit brought by residents in 2018 for $3.5 million without admitting any wrongdoing. Since then, the landfill has been the subject of an escalating number of odor complaints, reports from local regulators show. The Los Angeles Times reported “torrential storms” led to water intrusions in the landfill, resulting in increased odors.

The lawsuit is reportedly seeking compensation for residents’ health impacts, lower quality of life and degraded property value, the Sun reported. A lawyer for the victims told the publication that while the lawsuit is not specifically seeking remediation, Republic’s subsidiary should take action to address the landfill’s issues in order to put the situation to rest. 

Republic declined to comment directly on the lawsuit in an emailed statement from Melissa Quillard, senior manager of external communications. Quillard noted that the company has installed more than 100 vertical gas wells in the landfill so far this year to address odor concerns, with 20 more on the way. She said Republic has also installed “over 10,000 linear feet of horizontal or slope collectors,” plus new vapor and misting systems. 

“Sunshine Canyon Landfill is a highly engineered facility with comprehensive safety and environmental programs in place to protect our employees, the community and the environment,” Quillard said.

Other expansion news

• A plan by PA Waste LLC to construct a new landfill in Boggs Township, Pennsylvania, was rejected by Clearfield County officials, the latest development in an 18-year saga. (WTAJ)
• Local officials are mulling an expansion of the publicly owned Campbell County landfill in Virginia, which is set to reach capacity by 2029. (WSET)
• Managers of the Solid Waste Area Management Plan landfill in Manitoba acquired a 120-acre parcel of land for future landfill expansion, though the current landfill has decades of capacity remaining. (Pembina Valley Online)
• Santa Barbara County, California, is planning to spend roughly $766,000 to improve composting and anaerobic digestion facilities at the publicly owned Tajiguas County Landfill, which received approval for an expansion earlier this year. (Santa Barbara Independent)
• The Montana Department of Environmental Quality greenlit an expansion of the Lake County Landfill, which would add a lined cell capable of accepting municipal solid waste. (NonStop Local)
• Monmouth County, New Jersey, is moving forward with a 30-acre expansion of the WM-operated Monmouth County Reclamation Center. (Asbury Park Press)
• Louisiana waste company River Birch earned approval from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, to expand its landfill by hundreds of acres, potentially adding renewable energy projects in the process. (Nola.com)

Other compliance news

• The U.S. EPA and Max Environmental Technologies came to a consent agreement over pollution stemming from the company’s hazardous waste landfill in Yukon, Pennsylvania. (The Allegheny Front)
• Union Carbide will pay a $200,000 fine and continue remediation work at its landfill in South Charleston, West Virginia, following a judge’s ruling. (WV Public Broadcasting)