Tennessee landfill crisis: State warns of looming capacity threat to health and growth

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is raising concerns about the state’s population outpacing landfill capacity.

TDEC shared those concerns at a senate committee meeting Wednesday.

Officials showed this map to State Senators:

They say landfills in green have more than 10 years left in their lifespan, while those in yellow have between 3-10 years left.

TDEC says failure to act on this issue can hamper the state in several ways, including public health and the state’s ability cultivate economic growth.

“We’re seeing strains on regional landfill capacity and if we don’t look into this and do something we risk our ability to manage this reliably. Failing to do this could be a risk to public health.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, the head of the National Waste and Recycling Association said that in Tennessee, about 92 percent of waste goes to landfills like this one in Birchwood:

The national average is about 54 percent.

TDEC says the landfills in East Tennessee have about 25 years of capacity left. It’s worse in Middle Tennessee, but…

“If a landfill closes down in Middle Tennessee, that waste has to go somewhere, so it’s going to go to maybe the next closest neighbor, I mean landfill, or perhaps even farther away, depending on the economics.”

We took these concerns to the Chattanooga Solid Waste Division to check in and see if landfills here are at capacity. They tell us…

“We have about six years left in our current sale, we are looking to increase our daily tonnage. And when that happens, that current sales timeframe will go down to two years.”

The Chattanooga Solid Waste Division says they’re looking to add another site close to the Birchwood landfill.

“We’re actually getting ready to open up another sale within the next two years. And shortly after that, we will already start making preparations to open up cell four, which will take us to a lifespan of 49 years.”

State lawmakers also got a look at some of the efforts made towards recycling in Tennessee.

Industry experts estimate recyclable materials could be worth hundreds-of-millions of dollars to the right manufacturers annually.