Some nearby residents fear the expansion could turn their quiet rural community south of Muscle Shoals into a massive dumping ground.
SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): A small landfill in northwest Alabama is seeking to expand its disposal area by more than 1,000%, accept new kinds of waste, and quadruple the volume of trash it can take in a single day. Some nearby residents fear the expansion could turn their quiet rural community south of Muscle Shoals into a massive dumping ground, while proponents say the landfill will generate more revenue for Franklin County and give the county a cheaper option for disposing of its municipal waste, which it currently pays to send to a different landfill.
“This is not economic development, turning your county into you know, a multistate — maybe even the nation’s — landfill,” said Scott Mugno, a retired attorney who lives near the landfill and is spearheading a movement by local residents to oppose the expansion. The Franklin County Land Management company operates what is now a small construction and demolition waste landfill about 7 miles outside of Russellville, but has filed an application for a major permit modification with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management that would include:
- Expanding the landfill’s disposal area from 45 acres to 467 acres
- Allowing the landfill to accept municipal solid waste and not just construction and demolition waste, as its current permit allows
- Allowing the landfill to accept refuse from the entire states of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee
- Increasing the maximum daily load from 250 tons per day to 1,000 tons per day
Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com
