The amount of trash, sludge and other solid waste sent to Virginia increased 22 percent last year - the biggest jump since the state started keeping track.

The state's annual solid-waste report, released yesterday, shows that other states increased their trash shipments to Virginia by 1.2 million tons, from 5.4 million in 2002 to 6.6 million last year.

Virginia retained its position as the No. 2 waste importer among states. No. 1, Pennsylvania, received 10.5 million tons last year.

Solid waste includes household garbage, construction debris, some medical waste, old tires and treated human waste called sludge.

The new report comes out as Waste Management Inc., the nation's biggest waste-disposal company, is preparing to send out-of-state trash by barge to a port in Charles City County.

"Once we see barging of trash up the river, we will see even more dramatic increases" in imports, said Jim Sharp, director of Campaign Virginia, a group fighting out-of-state trash.

Virginia's trash imports will continue to grow as long as states such as New York find it cheaper to send their waste to landfills in other states, Sharp said.

Sharp renewed a call for federal legislation that would give states the power to limit trash imports.

Opponents say trash imports give Virginia a bad image, and they say landfills getting the trash could leak someday and pollute waters.

But Lisa Kardell, a spokes- WASTE woman for Waste Management, said trash imports provide jobs and revenue for localities with landfills that take the waste.

"All the waste that's deposited in Virginia is deposited in a safe, environmentally friendly . . . landfill" that is regulated by the state, she said.

Waste Management hauls out-of-state waste to big landfills it operates in Gloucester, Charles City, Amelia, Sussex and King George counties.

Two other major landfills, in Brunswick and King and Queen counties, also take out-of-state waste, as well as several smaller landfills.

The 22 percent jump in trash imports is the largest increase since 1998, the first full year for which the state Department of Environmental Quality compiled figures, said DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden.

Virginia received 4.66 million tons of out-of-state waste in 1998.

Hayden had no explanation for the latest jump. Landfills simply increased their waste imports, he said. "The increase this year is significant, but DEQ is doing its best to make sure waste is managed safely, no matter where it comes from."

The main exporters of waste to Virginia were Maryland (2.5 million tons, up from 2 million in 2002); New York (1.9 million tons, up from 1.5 million); and the District of Columbia (1.3 million tons, up from 1.2 million).

Waste created by Virginians rose from 17.5 million tons in 2002 to 18.6 million tons last year.

Overall, 25.2 million tons of waste were disposed of in Virginia last year. Eighty-three percent was dumped into landfills, 10 percent was incinerated and the rest went to operations such as recycling or composting sites.

The 1999 General Assembly passed laws to limit trash imports, but courts struck them down as infringements on interstate commerce.

On the Internet

Solid-waste report: www.deq.state.va.us