Landfill in Plainfield Gets a Three-Year Operating Permit

By Tom Coombe, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Dec. 28–The state Department of Environmental Protection has approved the Grand Central Sanitary Landfill’s operating permit, allowing the landfill to stay open until 2010.

The agency does that every three years, according to Grand Central spokesman Harry Smith. The Plainfield Township company is still waiting on word whether the state will allow it to expand, extending its life even further. As it waits for approval of the expansion, the landfill has had to cut back on the amount of trash it accepts. The state allows the landfill to take in 3,000 tons of trash a day, but Grand Central takes in roughly 1,000 tons per day to keep operating.

"We just have to adjust until the expansion is approved," Smith said Wednesday. "We’re scaled back now."

According to the state, this is the last time the state will renew Grand Central’s operating permit. DEP spokesman Michael Smith said that won’t matter if the expansion is approved, because a different permit would go into effect.

The expansion would allow the landfill to stay open for another 10 years, Harry Smith said. Grand Central has been trying to expand the landfill for the last six years. The township gave its approval in 2004. If the state allows the expansion, the landfill will grow from 67 to 109 acres. Smith said he expects to get word from DEP by spring 2008.

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