Creating landfill for county’s trash gets serious look

A quartercentury after Ulster County officials abandoned the idea of creating a countywide landfill, there appears to be a new emphasis on finding a local site for the disposal of solid waste.

At a Thursday evening meeting of the county’s Solid Waste Planning Commission, members were largely in agreement that the option should be studied next year, followed by engineering reports being conducted over the following four years.

County Legislator Manna Jo Greene, though, questioned the timetable.

“My biggest concern on this document is that we’re going to be studying things for too many years,” said Greene, R-Rosendale. “I believe ... that we have a year to make a good decision through the feasibility study and figure out [if] we’re going to have more than one [disposal] facility.”

The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency currently hauls trash collected in the county to the Seneca Meadows landfill, between Rochester and Syracuse, but that site is expected to close in January 2025.

The search for a local landfill site would be accompanied by feasibility studies regarding for other local disposal options, including the creation of a composting facility, construction of a biomass plant and improving the county’s materials recovery facility.

There also would be a feasibility study about shipping solid waste by rail to remote locations in the event a local solution is not found before Seneca Meadows closes.

The Resource Recovery Agency has drafted a longterm plan for the disposal of solid waste through 2029, but county lawmakers must adopt the plan before the agency can submit it to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for approval.

The plan, written by consulting firm Cornerstone, states disposal in a local landfill would cost $50 to $80 per ton, exporting by rail would cost $80 to $120 per ton, continuing to haul to an upstate landfill would cost $100 to $120 per ton, and using a biomass facility would cost $103 per ton.

County Legislator Kathy Nolan said shipping waste by rail is worth considering.

“When you get beyond Seneca Meadows, you’re talking tremendous distances ... so I value look

ing at rail because it might make Ohio open to us,” said Nolan, D-Shandaken.

Nolan, Greene and county Legislature Chairwoman Tracey Bartels said they oppose shipping solid waste, but they acknowledged it is likely to be necessary while looking for a more environmentally friendly option.

“We need to think about a sustainable, self-reliant approach,” Bartels said. “The fact that rail is relatively cheaper is ... a solution that has a dollar sign attached to it . ... That’s how we got into this problem — the idea that it’s cheap to put it in a truck and send it away.”

The last serious consideration of a countywide landfill was in the early 1990s and focused on the Winston Farm in Saugerties. That plan ultimately was abandoned in the face of public opposition, and the farm wound up hosting the massive Woodstock ‘94 music festival in August 1994.

In 2012, Resource Recovery Agency board member Charles Landi produced a list of 93 locations considered large enough for a landfill. That was followed three years later by the nowdefunct Ulster County Solid Waste Disposal Improvement Commission, formed by the county Legislature, narrowing the list to 17 properties in 10 towns.

A presentation on the agency’s proposed long term plan is expected to be given to the county Legislature next month.