Brookhaven Landfill to Close Soon: Is Long Island Ready?

The impending closure of the Brookhaven Landfill in New York presents a serious challenge for the Long Island region, with some even calling it a crisis. However, the highly fragmented nature of regional waste planning may be hindering the formation of clear solutions.

The town-operated landfill opened in 1974 and can accept approximately 1.2 million tons of material annually. Since it stopped accepting solid waste in 1989, the materials it receives have mainly included construction and demolition debris, ash from the adjacent Covanta incineration facility in Hempstead, automobile shredder residue, and debris from major storms. The Town of Brookhaven plans to stop accepting construction and demolition debris at the landfill by the end of 2024 and expects its ash landfill capacity to be exhausted within two years after that.

For materials that were previously sent to the Brookhaven Landfill, local disposal options are very limited. Under a 1983 state law, no new landfills are allowed on Long Island, and large-scale incineration facilities already handle a significant portion of the region's waste. Experts say Long Island can adapt to this change again, but the process will be challenging.

"With the landfill closing, I think we can now say we are facing a crisis, another crisis," said Frank Roethel, research professor and director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute at Stony Brook University. "The private sector will step in, they will take as much material as they can, hopefully that will provide some relief, but it will come at a high cost."

The region also has a single landfill for receiving ash from the Babylon incinerator, as well as two construction and demolition debris landfills. While comprehensive data on construction and demolition debris activity in the region is limited, and advocates hope recycling can also reduce overall volume, some form of long-distance waste export is likely necessary.

Winters Brothers Waste Systems, the region's largest waste transportation company, is signaling through multiple investments and advocacy efforts its intention to play a leading role in this transition. For example, the company released a report on regional solid waste issues in February.

Last November, the company acquired two rail transfer stations in Lindenhurst and Farmingdale from WIN Waste Innovations. Winters Senior Vice President Will Flower called it a "win-win situation because we are in the best position to collect and transfer materials," while WIN Waste was "in the best position to provide disposal facilities," with its disposal sites located at rail-served landfills out of state.

Previously, Winters acquired a Class III railroad company in 2020 and plans to rename it Shamrock Railroad. The company now aims to consolidate some of its existing truck transfer operations and offset the impact of the Brookhaven closure by building a new rail transfer station expected to handle approximately 6,000 tons of material per day. The project will be located on a large parcel it acquired in Yaphank, adjacent to the landfill and an existing materials recovery facility.

Local advocacy groups are critical of the proposal, questioning its scale and the potential risk of fragmenting protected woodlands. Long Island currently has three rail transfer stations (including the two acquired by Winters), with two more from local companies in the planning and approval process.

Winters had sought an exemption from local zoning requirements for the transfer station through the federal Surface Transportation Board, which could have expedited the approval process. The exemption request was denied in October 2020. The local advocacy group Citizens Campaign for the Environment opposed the exemption and stated at the time that "there is no crisis." The local NAACP chapter has also been publicly opposing the entire transfer station project in recent months.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the situation on Long Island is concerning, but she remains skeptical of the tonnage estimates behind the Winters proposal. "If we don't know what we need, can we say there is a crisis?" she asked. Esposito also questioned why more information about the Winters plan has not been released.

"There is a lot of PR and newspaper ads supporting it, but we don't yet know what it specifically is because no real proposal has been submitted."

Flower said that because details are still being finalized, the company has not yet submitted a formal application to the Surface Transportation Board, which is the first step before seeking local approvals.

"Winters Brothers is very good in many ways, including site selection, permitting, and operating transfer stations. We have 12 facilities on Long Island, so we have a good understanding of the process and believe we are on track," Flower said in an email. "We will submit a formal application at the appropriate time. The rail terminal operation is a large infrastructure project that will serve Long Island for the next 50 years, so we want to ensure we start with good design and a good beginning."

A state bill supported by Winters has been introduced that would authorize the Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County to modify a conservation easement at the site to allow rail access, but the bill has not advanced. Flower said the bill's progress is not a factor in the timing of the new rail transfer station proposal. He also said the pending outcome of New York City's commercial waste zone bidding is not a factor either.

Regional factors

The two counties on Long Island outside New York City play a relatively limited role in the waste system. The island is known for having numerous towns, villages, and special waste districts that provide small-scale services to increasingly affluent residents.

Robert Langer, former executive director of the North Hempstead Solid Waste Management Authority and former New York City Department of Sanitation official, has been critical of this fragmented system. Langer believes Long Island residents "barely pay for garbage collection" and that local entities lack the incentive to step outside their silos.

"Long Island was essentially built on the concept of home rule," Langer said. "Which community is willing to take on the burden of new infrastructure to support regional facilities?"

While Langer said raising taxes to offset new costs is politically risky, he also noted that costs have been gradually rising in recent years, partly due to changes in federal limits on long-haul truck driver working hours. Roethel also pointed out this is an issue that will need to be faced in any scenario after the Brookhaven closure.

"Unless you want to double transportation and disposal costs, you need to find a location where you can load, transport, unload, and return within 10 hours," Roethel said.

Winters' recent report highlighted the need for enhanced regional planning. Esposito of Citizens Campaign for the Environment said she believes a regional waste authority could help address this issue, and noted that New York State's 2% property tax cap is another factor worth watching, as it could affect how local governments adapt to rising waste costs.

"This is really going to be a fiscal war," she said. "The public doesn't want to pay more for garbage."

The role of recycling

Amid discussions about finding new disposal capacity, local stakeholders are also exploring new ways to increase recycling rates—especially in the municipal solid waste sector—which could play an incremental role in reducing overall volume.

The American Organic Energy anaerobic digestion facility slated for Yaphank, with a permitted annual processing capacity of 210,000 tons, could be part of the solution. Although construction has faced multiple delays, the company aims to begin pouring concrete soon.

"We will be fully operational in the third quarter of next year," CEO Charles Vigliotti said at a Stony Brook University event in March.

Langer expects the facility to become a destination for yard waste—most of which is currently managed by American Organic Energy subsidiary Long Island Compost—but he believes attracting new food waste volumes will be more complex.

New York State's commercial organics diversion mandate could also lead to some organics being diverted from the municipal solid waste stream. A representative from the state Department of Environmental Conservation said at the Stony Brook event that 250 local generators are subject to the law. Flower said Winters has invested in organics collection technology and was among the first to sign up with Vigliotti's company, but he believes the concept is not yet fully viable.

On packaging, the Winters report lists several recommendations—including supporting minimum recycled content laws and updating the bottle bill to double the deposit value on glass containers to 10 cents.

Winters was among the many recycling companies that opposed the 2019 bottle bill expansion proposal, but Flower said the company's thinking has evolved. Since the state's current program does not include wine and liquor bottles, and glass value can be challenging, handling these bottles separately through a buyback program could be "successful and effective," he said.

The company does not support extended producer responsibility, a concept proposed by Governor Kathy Hochul during ongoing state budget negotiations.

Looking ahead

With the Brookhaven Landfill closure date approaching, no clear path forward has emerged.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has hired Roethel and his university team—in partnership with the Town of Brookhaven and the Town of Babylon—to conduct a $250,000 regional waste needs study.

One of the main research areas will be construction and demolition debris, as the landfill is about to stop accepting an estimated 720,000 tons per year of such material. Flower and others have expressed concerns about illegal dumping. Ash will be another research focus. Roethel, an advocate for using ash as aggregate in building materials, mentioned that the campus boathouse he built in 1990 remains durable today. Environmental justice issues and the financial implications of the landfill closure are other topics the study will address.

There are currently two beneficial use determinations for ash pending before the state Department of Environmental Conservation. One is from Pure Recycling Group to process Babylon's ash into road aggregate and lightweight fill material. Another is from Covanta, a statewide application to process ash into aggregate for asphalt pavement at its Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania facility.

Covanta, which operates all four large-scale incineration facilities on Long Island, said this is one of several possible options.

"We have not finalized any plans for ash disposal after the Brookhaven landfill closes. We are currently exploring all options that can provide sustainable opportunities for Long Island, including the potential for ash reuse," spokesperson Nicole Robles said in an email.

During the Stony Brook event, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine said he believes the state needs to play a larger role.

"We need partners. It shouldn't be that DEC acts only as a regulator and not an innovator. We need them to become innovators, working with towns, villages, and more importantly counties," he said. "We can't delay, we can't wait. The future of this island depends on it."

David Vitale, director of the state Department of Environmental Conservation's Division of Materials Management, said at the event that the agency has a history of working with Long Island to address solid waste issues. He also noted that in recent decades, the state has provided at least $100 million in "significant" funding for incinerators, landfill closures, recycling programs, and other areas.

"We are a home rule state, so the responsibility and leadership for waste management rests with local municipalities. So we each have a role, and we need to support each other," Vitale said. "I believe that within our authorized scope, DEC has been a partner."

Last week, an agency spokesperson reiterated that its role is to review and approve local solid waste plans, provide technical assistance, and provide state funding. Additionally, the agency pointed to its own periodic solid waste plan—the latest of which calls for multiple policy shifts—as another example of its support.

Some believe that without more formal regional cooperation, this situation will not be resolved.

"We are like the Titanic heading toward an iceberg: everyone sees it, but no one wants to take the helm," Esposito said.

Flower noted that the closure of New York City's Fresh Kills landfill was similarly complex, but it led to a shift toward other waste management methods, such as rail transfer.

"There is usually no single silver bullet solution. Instead, it requires a holistic approach," Flower said. "This is an opportunity for us to realign on Long Island."