Dive Brief:

• The High Acres landfill in Wayne County, NY will soon receive large shipments of New York City trash by rail.
• The volume of waste at the Waste Management-owned site is expected to double or triple once the transport starts. The site is permitted to accept 3,500 tons of waste daily, with current waste shipments weighing in at an average of 1,400 tons per day.
• Waste Management signed a 20-year contract with New York City to haul waste to two of its landfills, High Acres in New York and a landfill in Virginia.

Dive Insight:

The transition of shipping waste using trains instead of trucks is expected to increase savings, reduce pollution and reduce traffic congestion around the landfill site. The senior district manager of Waste Management in Rochester, NY said that the company anticipates one train per day to haul the NYC trash. Each train will have about 20 cars attached. The Democrat & Chronicle reports that while trash-hauling rail transport is not welcome in some towns, the High Acres landfill has received only a small amount of opposition.