**4.1 County plans**

154 Management of Organic Waste

contaminated by hazardous waste and pollutants in the United States, eligible for long-term remedial action financed under the federal Superfund program, and guides the Environmental Protection Agency to which sites need further environmental assessments

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,

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

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

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

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

(EPA, 2011).

2006).

**4. New Jersey landfills** 

waste adhere to the county plan (NJDEP, 2006).

program are not available (NJDEP, 2006).

sound landfills for the remainder of the waste (NJDEP, 2006).

The Statewide Waste Management Act amended in 1975 mandated districts to establish solid waste management systems with emphasis on resource recovery such as recycling, composting, and incineration to minimize the disposal of waste in landfills. In the beginning of the 1980's, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) permitted the solid waste management plans for the 22 solid waste management districts, which include the 21 counties in New Jersey and the New Jersey Meadowland Commission. Currently, New Jersey contains 16 operating landfills, five of which have resource recovery facilities (NJDEP, 2006).

+The districts/ counties use four waste management systems, including non-discriminatory bidding flow control, intrastate flow control, market participant, and free market controls. The non-discriminatory bidding flow control is brought about due to the nondiscriminatory bidding process, opening the bidding of contracts to companies both in-state and out-of-state for the disposal of a county's waste. The intrastate flow control system requires that all waste should be disposed of within the same county as it was generated, unless transported out-of-state for disposal. In a market participant system, a county owned facility is permitted to compete with in and out- of- state disposal facilitates, and the free market system permits the ability to make freely agreed upon terms between the district/county, transporter, and disposal facility. Eight districts have the nondiscriminatory bidding flow control, while the other districts utilize either a market participant or free market approach for disposal of the solid waste generated within their borders. (NJDEP, 2006)

### **4.2 Waste generation**

Figure 1 depicts the solid waste disposal trends in New Jersey from 1985 to 2003 including in state and out-of-state disposal statistics. These figures illustrate a steady rise in solid waste generation during this period. This increase may be attributed to a strong economic landscape in New Jersey or a population rise.

Figure 2 shows the amounts of solid waste exported to the various neighboring states from 1990 to 2003. The export rates steadily increase for Pennsylvania and Ohio and more recently Delaware. The figure clearly shows that Pennsylvania receives the majority of New Jersey waste if it is exported out-of-state (NJDEP, 2006).

In 2003, New Jersey generated more than 19.8 million tons of solid waste, with 9.5 million tons sent for disposal. Of the 9.5 million tons disposed, sixty percent of the waste was disposed at facilities, including recycling facilities, in New Jersey, while forty percent or 3.9 million tons were sent to out-of-state facilities. The amount of exported waste has been increasing over the years (NJDEP, 2006).

Landfill Management and Remediation Practices in New Jersey, United States 157

capacity, 31.9 million cubic yards, remaining for the short term. This means that there is less

The "self sufficiency" policy of creating and preserving in state facilities that are environmentally protective and cost efficient for in-state generators has been limited by constitutional failures. Since new landfills in New Jersey are difficult to site and additional capacity at existing facilities are limited, this plan encourages activities for a sustainable landfill including leachate recirculation, use of alternative covers, and landfill mining. New Jersey will continue to identify and properly close all landfills, use public funds to remediate environmental problems, and promote brownfield redevelopment of closed landfills

The contamination caused by active, inactive, and closed landfills in New Jersey, particularly landfill Superfund sites, is reviewed and analyzed. All the data on the landfills were acquired from US EPA, and then input into a database with regards to geographical location, contaminant type, pollution media, current status, and remediation

Since there were no regulatory requirements or mandatory registration for solid waste landfilling activities until the 1970s, many New Jersey landfills were poorly sited, designed, and controlled. In addition, solid waste from neighboring states was sent to New Jersey in an uncontrolled manner. The solid waste was dumped with little or no provision for cover to prevent odor, to control birds, insects, and rodents, or to minimize long-term environmental impacts. Even though New Jersey has the strictest design and performance standards for new landfills in the nation, there are many old landfills throughout New Jersey. The legacy of past landfills not designed with stringent controls for environmental protection or closed properly remains a significant challenge facing the

Most landfills established before to the mid- 1970's lacked any leachate collection or control system, discharging the leachate directly to surface and groundwater causing serious water quality impairments. And closed landfills that do not have leachate collections systems require a costly retrofitting of a system to control discharges to surface and groundwater. Landfills, operated before the relevant environmental laws were enacted, accepted all types of waste, including industrial and commercial waste. Even after the laws were enacted, commercial and industrial waste continued to be illegally dumped at many municipal landfills. Therefore, many landfills may contain a variety of hazardous wastes. Nonetheless, municipal waste contains trace amounts of different household hazardous materials as homeowners dispose of paints, cleaning agents, solvents, and pesticides. As these hazardous materials accumulate in a landfill, a significant level of hazardous substances may result

The largest anthropogenic source of methane gas emissions in New Jersey is landfills, accounting for 72% or 13.3 million tons of methane emissions. Approximately 35% or 1.9 million tons of methane emissions is released from only forty-seven landfills, both open and

than 10 years of landfill capacity left in New Jersey (NJDEP, 2006).

**5. Analysis of contamination by NJ landfills** 

(NJDEP, 2006).

method.

state (NJDEP, 2006).

(NJDEP, 2006).

Fig. 1. New Jersey Solid Waste Trend Analysis (NJDEP, 2006)

\*Note: Data for 1990 through 2003 was developed from information received from solid waste transfer stations and transporter monthly reports submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Fig. 2. Solid Waste Exports from New Jersey to neighboring states (in 000's of tons) (NJDEP, 2006)

The New Jersey chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America states that about 3.6 million cubic meters of waste was disposed of in 2004 and there is a sufficient permitted capacity, 31.9 million cubic yards, remaining for the short term. This means that there is less than 10 years of landfill capacity left in New Jersey (NJDEP, 2006).

The "self sufficiency" policy of creating and preserving in state facilities that are environmentally protective and cost efficient for in-state generators has been limited by constitutional failures. Since new landfills in New Jersey are difficult to site and additional capacity at existing facilities are limited, this plan encourages activities for a sustainable landfill including leachate recirculation, use of alternative covers, and landfill mining. New Jersey will continue to identify and properly close all landfills, use public funds to remediate environmental problems, and promote brownfield redevelopment of closed landfills (NJDEP, 2006).
