solid waste
Sampson County site ranks No. 2 among U.S landfills for methane emissions. Rotting food is part of the problem.
Twenty-five million tons of garbage is rotting in the Sampson County landfill: disposable diapers from Durham, moldy leftovers from refrigerators in Wake, face masks and old toothbrushes from Brunswick. Over time the detritus of our lives, particularly food waste, breaks down in the landfill and emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that ranks only second to carbon dioxide in driving human-caused climate change.
Trash troubles: The pandemic started it; inflation keeps it going
This story was first published by Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Terrill “Ya Fav Trashman” Haigler, who worked for 14 months during the height of the pandemic as a Philadelphia sanitation worker, spent much of his tenure pointing out to the media and city officials the neighborhoods where garbage was piling up […]
Vance County residents speak out in force against proposed landfill
In testimony, the facts didn't always add up to the truth
Kenneth Harrison III slouched in a hard wooden bench in a Vance County meeting room, the posture of a man who might have spent the day in the cab of a dump truck. He wore a mask bearing a print of the American flag. His lawyer, Tom Terrell of Greensboro, well-known in North Carolina for representing mining companies, landfill operators and other industrial pariahs, looked fresh and spiffy in a dark suit and red tie, his silver hair curled over the white collar at the nape of his neck.
Cancer study bill advances; protections against leaking trash trucks introduced
Suspected cancer clusters would get closer scrutiny, according to a bill that passed with a favorable report from the Senate Ag, Environment and Natural Resources Committee today. Senate Bill 297, sponsored by Sen. Vickie Sawyer, a Republican from Iredell County, would direct the NC Policy Collaboratory to assemble a Cancer Research Advisory Panel to review […]
Another environmental disaster nears approval in the state Senate
Longtime environmental advocate Molly Diggins of the Sierra Club offers the following take on so-called “solid waste reform” legislation scheduled for a final vote in the state Senate tonight: “Tonight, the Senate will have a final (3rd) reading on S 328, Solid Waste Management Reform Act. S. 328 would undo many of the community, fiscal and environmental solid […]