With various Tennessee communities facing the prospect of full landfills within the next decade, some state lawmakers are considering changes to solid waste laws in an effort to identify a path forward.
A proposed expansion of the Middle Point Landfill in Murfreesboro is tied up in court for now. The facility accepts waste from about a third of the state, including Nashville, and ownership has said the landfill will have to close within a few years if it cannot expand.
"We can come up with better solutions together than we can trying to figure out 95 different solutions [for all 95 counties]," said Donna Barrett, a Central Tennessee Regional Solid Waste Planning Board member who testified before the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday.
Sen. Steve Southerland, the Morristown Republican who chairs the committee, said he wants to see "a major comprehensive bill" to address the issue. That work could start with a task force rather than a more targeted bill this session.
One bill that did come up, though, was Sen. Heidi Campbell's extended producer responsibility proposal. EPR policies, which incentivize manufacturers to make their packaging more easily recyclable, have been enacted in several states in recent years.
"For all of us, it's a pressing issue, whether we know it or not," Campbell said. "I think a big part of this is going to be reduction."
Nashville is making its own strides toward reducing dependency on landfills in other counties, though it's a long process. The city adopted a solid waste master plan in 2019 and rolled out twice-weekly recycling pickup and a curbside compost pilot program last year.
New Mayor Freddie O'Connell is also working on establishing a standalone solid waste department for the city. Metro could institute a "pay as you throw" fee system for trash pickup in an effort to encourage residents to throw away less and raise money to address the landfill situation, though O'Connell said in October a fee structure had not "been seriously considered yet."
Sen. Shane Reeves, a Republican whose district includes Middle Point, applauded the idea of establishing a task force.
"Continuing to scale [Middle Point] indefinitely, it just can't be done," he said. "We have to have solutions."
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
