At the urging of state legislators, Tennessee Solid Waste Management officials agreed to push Middle Point Landfill operators to cut the stench at their Walter Hill facility in response to community complaints.

Officials and residents agreed the problem with bad odor emanating from the landfill north of Murfreesboro stems from the amount of trash buried there - 900,000 tons yearly from 19 counties - and the fact it can run nearly 24 hours a day, enabling it to sidestep a requirement for all garbage to be buried at the end of the work day.

In a meeting called by the activist group Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), state Sen. Jim Tracy asked Pat Flood, director of Solid Waste Management within the Department of Environment and Conservation, to work with Arizona-based Republic Services, the landfill operator, to reduce the smell.

Tracy, a Shelbyville Republican who represents a portion of Rutherford County, said he also plans to investigate the possibility of sponsoring legislation to limit the amount of hours Middle Point can operate each day.

Landfill Closing in the next 8 to 15 Years:

The closing of the landfill in Rutherford County will also have a negative impact on places like nearby Cannon County. Reports indicate the site in Walter Hilll will close within the next 15 years if not sooner. That would leave Rutherford County and 18 other Middle Tennessee Counties with the problem of finding a place to permanently dump their garbage.

Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess stated it could close even sooner...

Middle Point Landfill is expected to close no later than 2028, depending on population growth in the county. Once the landfill closes, Rutherford County will have to pay to ship its trash to other landfills.

Source:

Murfreesboro Post, Sam Stockard

Read the entire story in the Murfreesboro Post