The Future of Ann Street Landfill

Our Landfill is Running Out of Space

The Ann Street Landfill is a critical resource for waste disposal for the residents of Cumberland County and its municipalities, including the City of Fayetteville. Every day, thousands of Cumberland County residents and businesses rely on the Ann Street Landfill for the safe disposal of household waste and construction and demolition debris.

The landfill will reach capacity in the next seven years. This may seem like a long time to plan for waste disposal options beyond 2030, but it is not when you consider the time it takes to permit and construct for more capacity. For the past three years the County has explored alternatives for long-term disposal options. The options studied have included waste to energy, waste diversion, enhanced recycling, or transferring all waste out of the county for disposal. These alternative strategies are either not economical to implement at this time or would not solve the need for additional capacity. The County has concluded that building a transfer station at the Ann Street Landfill is the most feasible short-term solution to allow for a longer-term expansion of the existing Ann Street Landfill to provide decades of additional life at the landfill.

The County needs to take action on the proposed strategy and is seeking to engage the neighboring residents and businesses and the greater Cumberland County community. We hope you will join us throughout the project to discuss the long-term plans for the Ann Street Landfill and provide comments. You will be able to engage with the project through public meetings, the project website, and direct outreach communication. 

The Plan

	Construct a Transfer Station  Short-Term Solution
	Expand the Landfill Long-Term Solution

 

The proposed plan includes permitting and constructing a transfer station at the site and expanding the lined landfill into the existing unlined balefill disposal area.

1. Transfer Station: The transfer station is needed in the short term to start diverting some of the waste the county receives for disposal at a landfill out of the county. The diversion will help to offset the volume of waste being generated on-site with the excavation of the waste from the balefill area that will be disposed of in the lined landfill.
2. Balefill Area: The balefill area is an old landfill that was operated by the County prior to solid waste regulations requiring a bottom liner system. The balefill is located to the west of the existing lined landfill at the site. The County plans to explore how practical it is to excavate and relocate all the waste within the balefill area to construct a lined landfill in its place. If the pilot testing is successful, the County would commence the permitting effort for the western landfill expansion, and pending successful permitting, begin to excavate, process, and relocate the balefill waste and construct new landfill cells.
3. Western Expansion: Once the first section of the western expansion is ready, the county will gradually decrease use of the transfer station while increasing use of the expansion area. This will save taxpayers the much higher cost of transferring county garbage by truck to another community. The western expansion should add 20 years to the life of the landfill. 

What is the anticipated schedule?

The county expects to have the transfer station up and running by July 1, 2024. The county will use the transfer station to ease the burden on the current landfill while the county permits and constructs the landfill expansion to the west. Permitting and construction of first cell is expected to take about five years.

We believe it would take approximately 5 years to open the first new cell in the westward expansion and 30 years to fully mine the balefill space.

What It Will Mean

	Long-Term Service The proposed project will allow the existing disposal operations at the Ann Street Landfill to continue for at least the next 20 years. The County is proposing the transfer station and expansion to meet the growing needs for the County residents and businesses and is not expanding to accept waste from outside the County. The site will continue to receive a similar amount of waste that it receives today. Truck traffic would enter and exit the site from Grove Street and would not pass through any residential areas.
	Odor Control The landfill mining is not anticipated to generate odors off-site. The County will have better understanding of the odor potential following the pilot work being conducted and would implement odor control strategies if needed. The mining work would be conducted in accordance with requirements of state regulatory requirements from the solid waste and air quality division of NCDEQ. The neighbors should expect the County to operate the landfill mining, expansion, and transfer station like they have operated the site for the last several years with being a good neighbor front of mind.
	Environmental Responsibility The Ann Street Landfill Expansion Project will further Cumberland County Solid Waste’s commitment to environmental responsibility by replacing the current unlined balefill with a lined landfill. The mining of the balefill waste will eliminate a potential source of groundwater quality impact at the site. The construction of a lined state of the art landfill in its place will be protective of the environment and public health and safety. The landfill will continue to operate and expand its landfill gas collection system for capturing methane gas and odor causing compounds. The methane collected is transmitted to Cargill for beneficial use as a fuel source.

Permit Process

How long is the permitting process?

The permitting process for the landfill expansion will be completed over the next couple of years. There will be a formal comment period during March 2023 for the Environmental Justice Review portion of the county’s public outreach program, but residents may continue to offer comment on the project through the website after the formal comment period is over and during the public hearings for the permitting of the transfer station and landfill expansion over the next couple of years.

Environmental Justice Report & Public Participation
NCDEQ requires that the County prepare an Environmental Justice Report and a Public Participation Plan for community engagement. Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. This goal will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.

The Environmental Justice Report has been prepared and submitted to NCDEQ for comment. The report identified that the communities surrounding the Ann Street Landfill site meet the state’s Environmental Justice criteria where project specific enhanced engagement is necessary. The County is taking steps necessary to ensure that the engagement is meaningful and provides ample opportunity for the public to learn about the project, its potential impacts, the strategies employed to address any impacts, and how and when they can provide input on the project.

Public Participation to Date
In March of 2023, the County hosted an in-person and virtual public meeting about the Future of Ann Street Landfill. During this public comment period, residents provided input on what they envision for the future of the landfill and potential mitigation opportunities. 

The content from the Virtual Public Meeting is still available at the following link: www.annstreetlandfill.com

Additionally, you can see the in-person Public Open House meeting materials at the links below::

• Project Handout
• Project Comment Form
• Meeting Boards