YORK, Pa. — York County is running out of places to put its trash.
More than half currently ends up at Modern Landfill in Windsor and Lower Windsor Townships. The landfill, though, is on track to reach capacity by 2025.
A proposal to expand the landfill would increase its capacity by 57 percent, from 42 million cubic yards to 66 million cubic yards of trash. The expansion is estimated to extend the life of the landfill 25 to 30 years.
That proposal was rejected unanimously by Lower Windsor Township supervisors in a December 2020 vote. Township officials declined to talk about the issue with FOX43, but board meeting minutes from the vote said the supervisors were concerned about the increased footprint of the proposed expansion.
The only other alternative within the county, reopening the former York County Sanitary Landfill in Hopewell Township, was voted down last week amid strong community opposition.
“We want to be prepared. We don’t want the day to show up when they say, ‘We’re closed.'. That’s what we’re doing here, to make sure we have a place for the county’s waste,” said Jen Cristofoletti, community services outreach coordinator with York County Solid Waste Authority.
The next option would be shipping waste out of the state, likely into Maryland.
York County Solid Waste Authority significantly reduces the volume of trash it needs to ship to landfills by first burning household waste for energy, then taking out recyclable materials. Even so, it sent out 190,000 tons of ash waste last year.
Shipping that amount out of state would increase costs. The Lower Windsor Township taxpayer burden would likely be compounded by the loss of about $1 million a year in tipping fees paid to the township by Modern Landfill.
Leadership at Modern Landfill, which is owned by Republic Services, said they still hope to negotiate an expansion of the landfill before it reaches capacity.
“When you look at the benefits compared to the existing facility, there’s a whole lot of upside for everyone for this project to go forward, so we’re optimistic,” said Modern Landfill general manager Tim O’Donnell.