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Landfills:
Repealing the Ban on Yard Waste in Landfills

Our Position: oppose
Bill Number: HB1453
Sponsor: Rep. Tom McCall
Legislative Session: 2006

HB 1453 would repeal the ban on yard waste in landfills, so the landfill operators will have an additional source for tonnage, and per ton “tipping” fees.  (The term “tipping” refers to dump trucks “tipping” their loads into the dump.)  The solid waste industry makes money based on how many tons of material they are able to bury in their landfills. This is the main reason GA has as little recycling as it does, compared to other places:  there is simply more money to be made burying material than there is in reusing it, and that fundamental bottom line calculation has largely driven solid waste policy since the early 1990’s, when the state began paying serious attention to trash as a public policy matter.  One bill encouraging recycling that passed the legislature during the first Miller administration prohibited the disposal of yard waste in sanitary landfills.  The reason was that such material took up a large amount of space in the dumps, and the yard waste lent itself to easy recycling by composting and reuse as a garden soil amendment.

Status

Action Needed

Background