Tennessee Landfill Reaching Capacity, Residents Face Issues

The Middle Point Landfill in Rutherford County, Tenn. Is on track to run out of space in 5 years, which would bring a handful of issues to residents.

Landfill General Manager Mike Classen held a community meeting earlier this week to address issues and answer questions that residents had. Classen says that taxes will skyrocket if the landfill reaches capacity but locals in the area had other concerns as well.

“Every one of those trucks is tearing up the roads that lead to the landfill, spilling trash along the highway,” said Susan Allen, a Murfreesboro resident, during the meeting.

Allen continued to say that her friends, who live closer to the landfill, deal with bad odor frequently.

“Over the last two years, we’ve doubled the amount of gas we’ve been collecting and actually reduced the number of odor complaints by over 98% and we’re not done yet,” Classen explained.

Classen says that the only economical and safe way to address the trash issues in the area if the expand the landfill. Closing the landfill will cost taxpayers a lot of money to transport their waste elsewhere, Classen warned.

“Even if we close the doors tomorrow, Middle Point will always be there and can be nothing else and so we understand this community has an asset. We want to help this asset create a lot of revenue back to the community while also keeping waste disposal cost effective,” Classen said.

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