Next Bourne landfill addition will rise 40 feet atop long-buried rubbish

BOURNE — The town's landfill disposal operations are going upward before they expand outward.

Landfill managers plan a vertical expansion atop the disposal cell at the entrance off Route 28 (MacArthur Boulevard northbound), adding some 40 feet to the height of that area. That operation would be worked southward over older cells.

The new cell when eventually filled and capped would be visible from the Bourne Bridge, but not serve as a motoring distraction. New trash disposal would sit atop buried construction debris and material from the old town dump.

The Bourne Planning Board voted 6-0 to approve the landfill site plan for expansion. Board member John Carroll Carroll abstained. There were no comments from the public.

This proposed expansion is part of preparations for the future of the facility. It would essentially buy landfill managers time to fill the current Phase 6 cell, secure permits for more disposal expansion and also plan to use 12 more acres bought off MacArthur Boulevard.

Land purchased for Residential Recycling Area at Bourne landfill

The 12 acres, however, would not be for disposal operations. Rather it would accommodate the Residential Recycling Area and other functions such as offices, storage and garage needs. Funding and design for that aspect of future construction remain to be worked out.

The 12 acres, a box-turtle habitat, will be mitigated by 18 wooded acres bought along Route 28 south of the Otis Rotary; land that backs up toward the Massachusetts National Cemetery at Joint Base Cape Cod.

Mitigation has been reviewed by the state Division of Fisheries and Massachusetts Natural Heritage Agency. The acreage will fall to the care and custody of the Bourne Conservation Commission. And the 12 acres likely will be cleared in January. A contractor was hired for clearing operations.

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The overall planning is part of considering where everything’s going to go and what it’s going to look like at full buildout, Phil Goddard, landfill environmental manager and compliance director, said earlier this month, praising the balanced decision-making. “The plan is for at least 12 to 15 years of additional landfilling,” he said

The key takeaway involves a landfill that is still seamlessly operating and expanding, funded by the town with its budget carried in separate enterprise-fund accounting. Planning ahead is always on a scale of at least three to five years, Goddard said.

Bourne landfill one of four such facilities in Massachusetts

The Bourne facility is one of about four such disposal units remaining in Massachusetts. It plans an additional 15 to 20 years of disposal and 5 million cubic yards of air space for such operations. After that, Goddard said, Bourne municipal solid waste would go to Covanta’s SEMASS plant in Rochester.

Full buildout means the landfill would consume the current Residential Recycling and Drop Off Center space, which would also be moved southward, as well as landfill offices and transfer stations.

This does not mean there are no bonds of constraint.

The Conservation Law Foundation of Boston opposes the expansion plan. It is also surviving a site-assignment review, constant scrutiny by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Board of Health monitoring and Bourne Planning Board review. The Cape Cod Commission and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office have also weighed in.

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On Nov. 10, Goddard assured the Planning Board that the facility is on solid footing with planning and seeking permits. It's also managing to stay abreast of what can be put in the ground, what must be recycled or diverted and new regulations such as those pertaining textiles and mattresses coupled with the new food composting regimen.

Landfill operations have the support of the community and most residents support curbside recycling and realize that the less material put in the ground, the longer the facility operates. Highway Department managers say 30% of the town’s trash volume each week is recycled at the curbside.

There are pockets of reservation and some fears that an environmental nightmare of some sort will evolve in time. Carroll sounded a cautionary note earlier this month, saying future expansion planning should be supported, but not forever.

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“When you go to the site," he said, "you realize this is one heck of a complicated, but successful operation.”

Yet, Carroll warned against purchasing more land for disposal operations.

“In the long run, let’s be careful how far we plan to put stuff (in the ground) here in Bourne or out in Ohio or other places," he said. "Let’s look ahead to take a look at the head of the snake soon.”

Goddard said there will be no further buildout after the project.

The land south of the landfill is unsuitable for disposal and there are hydro-geographical issues there. The Planning Board and entire community are being afforded a look at the big picture and not a smaller myopic approach to considering the landfill's future step-by-step as the effort unfolds, he said.

Each segment of operations on the new 12 acres, however, will be reviewed by the Planning Board and the town departments as they evolve, Goddard said.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Bourne Landfill 12-acre expansion plans approved by planning board