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Trash imports growing again

June 15, 2007 12:35 am

By RUSTY DENNEN

Virginia's landfills, including the area's largest in King George County, remain prime destinations for out-of-state trash.

That's according to a new state report that says total trash imports grew 3.5 percent last year to 7.2 million tons. That's a departure from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's 2005 report, in which the amount of imported trash fell by 9.8 percent.

"We don't have a thorough answer as to why we're seeing more, although we've been seeing that overall trend since 1999," DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden said yesterday.

The drop in 2005 was due to smaller shipments by Maryland, and high fuel prices.

Most of the material going into landfills statewide is either municipal solid waste or construction-related materials. Landfills reported that about 5 percent of trash was recycled or turned into mulch. Waste of all types dumped in 198 licensed Virginia landfills last year totaled 25.1 million tons.

According to the report, five jurisdictions account for 96 percent of the trash coming into Virginia. Maryland sends the most, 42 percent of the total, followed by New York at 24.5 percent, Washington, D.C., 17 percent, North Carolina, 6.9 percent, and New Jersey, 5.2 percent.

The King George Landfill, operated by Waste Management Inc., is the only Fredericksburg-area site that accepts out-of-state waste.

Of the 1.2 million tons it handled last year, 971,750 were imported. That compares to 964,386 tons accepted in 2005.

The trash earns millions of dollars for the company and the county. Waste Management reported paying fees of $21.2 million last year to localities hosting its six Virginia landfills.

King George was second only to Atlantic Waste Disposal's Sussex County Landfill in the amount of trash handled. The Sussex site took in 2.8 million tons from all sources.

Trash imports have been a political issue in Virginia for years. There have been attempts to limit them, but they haven't gotten anywhere because the U.S. Constitution says interstate commerce is a federal issue.

Because of that, individual states cannot regulate out-of-state wastes. Virginia supports legislation that has been introduced in Congress since 2005, but nothing has been passed.