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Pennsylvania’s 49 landfills and six waste-to-energy facilities operate with state-of-the-art knowledge and technology and undergo strict environmental scrutiny.
Before 1968, Pennsylvania had more than 1,100 unregulated landfills, hundreds of hazardous waste sites, and countless brownfield sites—all legal. There was no professional waste “industry.”
Pennsylvania passed its first law regulating solid waste—the Solid Waste Management Act—in 1968. A series of amendments in 1980 created the basic framework of solid waste management we’re familiar with today. Town dumps closed and antiquated incinerators shut down. Those 1,100 landfills quickly dwindled to fewer than 100. Waste management companies staffed by professionals came into being.
Adoption of the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act in 1988 required all counties to plan for solid waste management and contract for 10 years of available disposal capacity. It also mandated curbside recycling in certain municipalities and set up per-ton taxes on waste to subsidize recycling and provide financial benefits to municipalities that host disposal sites.
The vast majority of today’s disposal facilities are regarded as good neighbors and benefactors to their host communities. Fees and taxes from landfills and waste-to-energy sites help subsidize recycling, fund state grants for environmental projects, and provide revenue that helps many communities hold the line on local taxes.
Read in more detail: Evolution of the Solid Waste Industry in PA
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