About two dozen protesters opposing any expansion of the Moretown landfill gathered on the steps of the Statehouse on Wednesday.
The landfill has been shut down since July 15, and is now applying for a permit to open a new section called Cell 4. More than 20 representatives from environmental groups and homeowners in the Moretown area protested the expansion, which they say will cause harm to the air and water quality in the region.
“Filling the land with trash, when at least 75 percent of it could be composted, recycled or repurposed in not only wasteful and dangerous but it is a flagrant abuse of the land,” said Martha Douglass, a Citizens for Landfill Environmental Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) member and Moretown resident who lives a half-mile from the landfill.
The landfill was closed in March due to environmental complaints, but then reopened for local customers in April. Since the latest closure July 15, dumping of waste and garbage has been seen along roads in neighboring towns, The Associated Press reported.
About 30 homes are subject to the odors surrounding the area, but Douglass and other residents said the odor and the rattle caused by blasting from the landfill brought their attention to a larger issue.
“It made us realize that there has been a lot of environmental violations and groundwater contamination,” Douglass said.
Vermont should be able to divert much more waste than it currently does, said Naomi Leary, community organizer at the Toxics Action Center. She compared the state to the province of Nova Scotia, which has a similar economy and environment, where 70 percent of the trash is diverted from the waste stream. In Vermont, 30 percent of the trash is diverted, Leary said.
“It’s currently being done in a very similar environment with the same type of people,” Leary said.
Together with CLEAR, the Toxics Action Center has collected signatures from nearly 600 residents and 90 local business leaders in support of closing the landfill.
Moretown Landfill Inc. applied for a permit to open Cell 4 last spring, but the application was withdrawn in a letter sent to the Department of Environmental Conservation in May, stating that the waste management company running the landfill needed more time to complete the application.
The forthcoming Cell 4 application will be subject to comprehensive technical review with opportunity for public comment as required by the Solid Waste Management Rules, the Agency of Natural Resources said in a July 19 statement.
