New Hanover County’s director of recycling and solid waste wants to more than double the number of years the county landfall has left. Right now, New Hanover County’s landfill has about 30 years before it’s completely full. The problem has been compounded by Hurricane Florence, which wiped out nearly 15 years of capacity, and the region’s above-average waste generation — 1.6 tons per person, per year, in New Hanover County, compared to a national average of just over a ton per person, per year — driven in part by the tourism industry.
County staff have explored some innovative techniques, including a contract with a BP subsidiary to capture, process, and sell natural gas that escapes the landfill. The county also has existing recycling and diversion programs. Eventually, the landfill could go from 170 feet to 270 feet, with permission from the board of commissioners, but there’s still only so much room, with the landfill property hemmed in on all sides.
Another suggestion put forward by a third-party consultant in 2015 to increase space, a mechanically stabilized earthen berm that would allow additional vertical growth, was “astronomically” expensive, according to staff…