Virginia's trash imports set an unsavory record in 2003

Date published: 7/5/2004

Virginia still powerless to limit the flow

HOW HIGH will the piles of out-of-state trash rise in Virginia? Evidently, the sky's the limit. The annual solid-waste census from the state Department of Environmental Quality reveals that Virginia landfills accepted not just a record amount of imported trash in 2003, but nearly 22 percent more than was shipped here in 2002. Dig us out!

The actual, hard-to-conceive numbers: 25,170,000 total tons of garbage dumped at Virginia landfills, of which about 6,594,000 tons came from elsewhere. Put in perspective, our fellow states contributed more than a quarter of all the solid waste dumped into Virginia landfills in 2003. This was not just household and office trash. It includes all sorts of stuff, like industrial and medical waste, tires, and petroleum-contaminated soil.

Virginia law stipulates the kinds of waste that may be brought in, and hauler Waste Management Inc. promises to abide. But who could possibly check it all? You want to roll around in it?

The Big Three "givers" remain Maryland, New York, and D.C. But trash also comes here from 29 other states--and Canada, too. Even Pennsylvania, the only state that imports more out-of-state trash than Virginia, sent 70,000 tons to the Old Dominion last year. The garbage welcome mat is on Virginia's doorstep, and the nation knows it.

Certainly officials in those states (and provinces) will continue to ship their trash here as long as it is cheaper and easier than finding domestic sites. Jim Sharp of Campaign Virginia, which fights to limit trash imports, says Virginians can expect the influx to swell still more once barging of waste begins. Waste Management is apparently cocked and primed to proceed with river hauling. Several Virginia counties, including King George, welcome the revenue from trash imports. But the state's inability to cap in any way the sum of trash that comes in poses a serious threat to Virginia's countryside and its groundwater--no matter the environmental precautions taken.

Because interstate-commerce laws bar Virginia from blocking incoming trash, Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-1st) keeps pushing bills that would let states set ceilings on incoming trash, trumping the agreements local governments have with haulers. But a rival measure by Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.), which would allow regulation only of new landfills and those with expired licenses, enjoys Congress' favor. Alas, Virginia issues permits for the life of a landfill and would benefit from the Greenwood bill not at all.

With trash barges ready for towing, it's time for some compromise legislation.

Date published: 7/5/2004