**4. New Jersey landfills**

Although the area of New Jersey ranks No. 47 in the 50 states of the United States, New Jersey is the most densely populated (462/km2) with a population of approximately 8.4 million residents This state is faced with an increasing trend in volume of waste generation, combined with a declining trend in recycling rates, and a scarcity of open spaces to site new landfills. Compounding the problem is the large quantity of legal uncertainty regarding the permissible regulation of solid waste collection and disposal, and a marketplace that makes identifying additional disposal capacity difficult (NJDEP, 2006).

For the past thirty years, the Solid Waste Management Act has guided New Jersey in terms of the collection, transportation, and disposal of solid waste. The development of facility siting and recycling plans are the responsibility of twenty-one counties and the New Jersey Meadowlands District, and each municipality ensures the collection and disposal of solid waste adhere to the county plan (NJDEP, 2006).

In 2006, the Statewide Solid Waste Management Plan was updated from the 1993 version. Since 1993, New Jersey has undergone significant changes in terms of solid waste management including declining recycling rates, the loss of a variety of funding sources due to numerous taxes, invalidation of waste flow rules by the Federal Court, the partial deregulation of solid waste utility industry, and the state adopted the federal hazardous waste program. Two Federal Court decisions, "Atlantic Coast" and "Carbone", left many once financially secure disposal facilities with significant debt. After "Atlantic Coast" and deregulation of state control on regulatory flow, several counties controlled their waste and initiated an intra-state flow plans allowing waste to leave the state, but if the waste remains in New Jersey, it is sent to a facility in that county. Due to these changes, the resources needed to plan and execute an environmentally protective solid waste management program are not available (NJDEP, 2006).

In the mid 1970's, as old dumps were being closed and the generation of waste increased, the formation of environmentally friendly landfills could not maintain the increased waste, resulting in New Jersey becoming a net exporter of waste to neighboring states. Therefore, the state embarked on a mission to increase recycling rates while creating environmentally sound landfills for the remainder of the waste (NJDEP, 2006).

Some counties choose to create facilities using funds from revenue bonds backed by the guaranteed flow of waste to the publicly owned facility. By 1990, thirteen new facilities were built creating billions of dollars of public debt. However, a Federal Court ruling in "Atlantic Coast" invalidated this waste flow system. The public funded facilities could not modify their systems as easily as the counties that contracted with private entities and still pay for the acquired debt. These facilities have higher rates due to several aspects: the scarcity of open spaces in such a densely populated state, having to accept even the unprofitable segment of the waste, the numerous taxes and surcharges supporting recycling programs, and the need for the proper closure of landfills in the future. In certain counties, the state decided to subsidize the debt payments and cleared certain loans related to solid waste management (NJDEP, 2006).
