So, what’s next? Last week, the long-dreaded Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency feasibility study on a possible countywide landfill was released. Few locals were surprised that the top two sites named that report were in Wawarsing. One is on Brown Road in Ulster Heights; the other’s over in Dairyland, off Route 52, close to Milk Road.

To find out what will be next, the Shawangunk Journal had an illuminating talk with Marc Rider, the new executive director of UCRRA. He said the technology of waste disposal has been changing and UCRRA is looking to 21st century responses to the challenges.

“The UCRRA board has authorized me to put out [a request for proposals, or RFP] for a countywide landfill design. The engineering firm that we select will take us through the entire 10-year process, and they will do the due diligence on the two sites mentioned.”

First will be, Rider said, a “transportation and traffic study. And then a little bit more on soil studies. Brown Road is fairly close to the reservoir, and we will need to see where the groundwater goes. Those early studies could take both of these sites off the table.”

This is all part of a moving situation. Craig Lopez, county legislator for District 14, which includes most of Wawarsing, has organized a letter opposing a county wide landfill in Wawarsing. Lopez drew eight Republicans and a fellow local county-level lawmaker, Democrat John Gavaris, to sign it.

However, it is increasingly well understood that something will have to be done about the 140,000 tons of solid garbage that the county produces every year.

“Today, we send 15 trucks every day, fully loaded, all the way to Seneca Meadows,” according to Rider.

That’s the large-scale regional landfill in Seneca Falls in Central New York. How long Ulster’s arrangement can continue is unknown. The county contract with Seneca Meadows will end next year and it’s far from certain the landfill will get an extension of its state permit.

So, UCRRA is looking into other ways to cope.

“I am an environmentalist,” says Rider. “And our board also believes in the full dimension of our response to the issues. … We already divert 5,000 tons of organic waste into compost. We are going to expand that to 7,500 tons. Eventually we will meet the county executive’s “Order 1” and divert 100 percent of organic waste out of the landfill. To that end, we may work with town transfer stations and supervisors.”

Of course, if the opponents of the countywide proposal succeed in getting lawmakers to pass a resolution opposing a landfill in Wawarsing, then, Rider says, “It would be pretty difficult. With a resolution passed opposing the one in Plattekill, that would only leave the Hercules site.”

That one is located at 161 Ulster Ave. in Ulster Park, approximately one mile south of Port Ewen. It covers approximately 280 acres. There was a factory there at one time – first the Hercules Powder Co. and then Dyno Nobel – and there is 100 acres of fenced-in space around that part of the site.

“What we have been searching for is a site with 100 usable acres. And those five are the only ones in Ulster County,” says Rider. In the feasibility study, several sites were considered, but only five – the two in Wawarsing, two in Plattekill and one in Ulster Park – made the most-feasible category.

If a county landfill is ruled out, then what? The county population will still be generating that 140,000 tons of trash a year.

Rider is, perhaps surprisingly, quite upbeat about this. “There’s lots of advanced technology now. Like biogas – we look at lots of simulations. Whatever we do it will not be the classic incinerator. I would not envisage the state Department of Environmental Conservation permitting an incinerator.”

Incinerators are known for problems like not burning plastics hot enough, thereby creating chemical nasties, like the dioxin family, and not being reliably capable of cleaning their own waste, i.e., smoke. Dutchess County built one decades ago as an alternative to making a landfill of its own.

“That’s not even on the table,” said Rider.

“There are places in Europe,” he notes, “that are doing it way more efficiently than we are. We are looking to companies over there that are using advanced technology for disposal.”

How about Sullivan County? The Milk Road site is very close to the county line. Are they on board with this proposal?

“Haven’t spoken to them specifically on the landfill, but I have been in material management study groups with them,” Rider said. “I know they are also working on a regional approach. For that to work, they would need about 500,000 tons a year of material. With their own, and our 140,000, plus Orange and Dutchess counties, they could reach that. But this is all very early stages. And regional is not a priority for us. However, there is no other landfill in DEC Region 3, so the issue remains.”

Rider insists we put aside video images of Fresh Kills, the behemoth landfill now closed on Staten Island which used to be the destination for much of New York City’s trash. Swarms of seagulls and bulldozers surrounded by flying fragments of trash are 20th century, and out of date, he said. “Modern-day landfill has a lot of technology involved. No organic waste, which eliminates the source of most odors.”

Rider also noted that UCRRA is already finding new ways of dealing with problems. “We have a deal with the DEC regarding mattresses. We get 17,000 a year, and they take up a lot of space in the landfill and require more trucks to move to Seneca Meadows. So, we will be separating mattresses at the Ulster site and working with a mattress recycling specialist.”

That is part of a push to “look at doing a ‘diversion building’” in the next capital project for UCRRA. “We are going to work with the legislature on some kind of ‘reuse center.’ A place that will prioritize recycling.”

What’s happening at the state level? Seneca Meadows is involved in many legislators’ districts.

“A bill to minimize the amount of waste we produce has already passed the state Senate and will be before the Assembly.”

Rider said he’s committed to transparency about the issues involved – a refreshing change in attitude for an agency which in the past has been less than forthcoming about many things, especially its finances. He sees transparency as preferable to secrecy, which, he said, generates paranoia.