18 hours Ago By By DAVID L. SHAW [email protected]
SENECA — For the next four years, Casella Waste Services of Ontario will operate the Ontario County Landfill until it closes. To do that, landfill GM Brian Sanders says the company will need to increase sources of soil cover to place on the deposited trash. The host town owns a 40-acre parcel south of the landfill it has agreed to allow Casella to use as a source of cover soil.
Sanders has told county and town officials he needs access to more soil. One option, he said, is to be allowed to excavate soil to a deeper depth on the town-owned parcel, a move that would require a minor modification to its state permit. At the Dec.
17 town board meeting, Sanders and the board discussed the issue but took no action. “It was more of a discussion topic at this point to let the board know we would need to be taking some kind of action in the near future,” Supervisor Drew Wickham said. “Brian was present, and we had a good discussion of Casella’s cover soil needs and we talked about some of the options available, including digging deeper in the present borrow area.
” Wickham said the discussion will continue and he expects a decision to be made in the first quarter of 2025. The county Board of Supervisors voted overwhelmingly Dec. 5 to close the 389-acre landfill at the end of 2028, when the current state operating permit and the county’s Operation Management and Lease agreement with Casella expire.
It’s also when the landfill, based on current deposit rates, is expected to reach capacity. County officials have begun to plan for an alternative to landfill disposal at the current site. In addition to its normal operations, Casella will be planning for its closure and post-closure obligations through its OLM contract with the county.
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