As the City of Albany plans the expansion of its landfill, one of its customers is planning to bring its waste elsewhere.
Guilderland Supervisor Ken Runion said the town has entered into discussions with the Town of Colonie to use its landfill located near Boght Road in the Northeastern corner of town.
Runion said Guilderland has been searching for an alternate location to dump its trash for years, and an opportunity recently presented itself.
We’ve been looking for a long period of time, and when this opportunity arose, we had to jump on it, Runion said.
He cited the recent expansion of the Rapp Road landfill, owned by the City of Albany as one of the reasons the town is looking to take its garbage elsewhere.
He said the expansion is going into lands that could potentially become Pine Bush Preserve lands.
`It’s against what we’re trying to achieve here,` he said.
Runion said the town has looked at sites in Seneca and other western New York areas, and although they have been environmentally sound, the transportation costs were too great.
Runion said Colonie’s landfill `is run in an environmentally friendly` fashion and noted the cost of using their landfill would be close to the same as using Albany’s.
The tentative four-year agreement calls for $55 per ton on residential trash the first two years and $56 per ton the second two years. Guilderland was paying $52 per year to the City of Albany.
Runion said, though, construction waste that cost $80 per ton with Albany, will cost $60 per ton with Colonie, and that rate will remain constant for four years.
The town dumps about 1,500 tons of residential trash and 1,500 tons of construction waste each year, Runion said.
He said the costs for transportation will be more, but overall the cost of the switch would be a wash.
He met with Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan and public works and landfill officials on Wednesday, July 1, to discuss the agreement.
The Town of Colonie has a board meeting on Thursday, July 16, and will be voting on a motion to take Guilderland as a customer.
The town of Guilderland is not required to dump a minimum amount of trash with the City of Albany, Runion said, and he is not expecting a legal battle.
`We’re not obligated to submit a minimum amount of material,` he said.
Town Board member Warren Redlich said he is in favor of switching over to the Town of Colonie’s landfill, as he does not support dumping at Rapp Road, but voiced concerns that the agreement is a short-term solution, and noted that private haulers in Guilderland will still be using the Rapp Road landfill.
He also questioned the timing of the discussions between Guilderland and Colonie, and questioned why talks with the neighboring municipality did not begin sooner.
`How hard is it to find Colonie,` he said. `It’s not that far away.`
Redlich also criticized Runion for voting in favor of a motion to `adopt a resolution of agreement to implement the terms of the Solid Waste Management Plan for the ANSWERS program.` The program is no longer officially titled ANSWERS, which refers to the Albany New York Solid Waste Energy Recovery System.
The motion was passed 3-to-2 on May 19, with Redlich and Town Board member Mark Grimm opposing. They said voting to approve the Solid Waste Management Plan was essentially voting to expand the landfill. Runion said the move is not quid-pro quo, and the town had no viable alternative to dump their trash. He noted at that meeting that he is not in favor of a landfill expansion, and reiterated that sentiment in a Monday, July 6, interview.
Grimm said on Monday, July 6, that he suspects the contract was hastily drawn up, as a typographical error notes the term City of Cohoes where the Town of Guilderland should be written.
Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan said Runion approached her about potentially using Colonie’s landfill and Mahan discussed the matter with town officials.
`It goes according to whether or not we have capacity available,` she said.
She said the landfill has had some space since 2008, and taking Guilderland on for four years is within its capability.
The contract would begin in the last quarter of this year, and go through 2013.
Joe Stockbridge, director for the division of environmental services, said the town’s permit allows up to 175,000 tons per year. Normally the town finishes with trash totals between 155,000 and 165,000 and a contract with Guilderland will leave them closer to the latter.
`Guilderland is not a very large generator compared to some of our other customers,` Stockbridge said.
He added that if other municipalities are interested in discussing contracts, they should do so soon.
He said the City of Watervliet, City of Cohoes, and two private haulers have contracts expiring within one year.
He said no other contractors, private or municipal, have contacted Colonie thus far.
Mahan emphasized that running an efficient operation, within the landfills limit is a priority.
Guilderland will vote on the item on Tuesday, July 7, after The Spotlight has gone to press. Check back at www.spotlightnews.com for an update to the story.“