Area residents can soon expect a new waste energy facility after the City of Murfreesboro approved plans for a solid waste management center at 2120 Butler Dr. The facility, managed by WastAway, is expected to be a transfer station for the entire city’s trash, positioned near residential areas, not far from the site of the new Buc-ee’s travel stop.
Approved by the Murfreesboro City Council back in January 2023, WastAway’s solid waste management facility is intended to help manage solid waste more efficiently in the Murfreesboro area. With the Middle Point Landfill expected to reach full capacity within the next five years, the facility may present a partial solution to the city’s growing trash problem.
“WastAway’s process provides a beneficial fuel that hits all the sustainability, economic and environmental goals that benefit our community and enhance the quality of life for citizens in Murfreesboro,” said Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland.
Efforts to construct a WastAway facility in the Middle Tennessee area come after ongoing complaints of Republic Services’ Middle Point Landfill, often affectionately referred to as “Trash Mountain” by locals. The landfill continues to grow as Rutherford County residents, and others from surrounding communities, collectively create more than 1,000 tons of landfill waste daily.
WastAway says its concept offers a cleaner alternative to solid waste management. WastAway’s facilities could take in about 400 tons of trash a day, converting the garbage into biomass fuel.
Company officials say that its fuel, known as SE3, can be used by certain manufacturers and that extensive test burns co-firing SE3 fuel with coal have shown no negative effects on boiler performance or emissions equipment, that it contains no pathogens and does not emit an odor while stored, and that since the garbage used to produce it is obtained through long-term municipal and commercial contracts the price of the fuel is extremely predictable and not subject to swings of fossil fuel pricing. Plus it helps keep garbage out of landfills, making the material beneficial from several perspectives. Learn more about the process at wastawayfuel.com.
Murfreesboro Assistant City Manager Darren Gore has assured residents that the construction of the new WastAway facility should greatly reduce the odor complaints and air quality violations from the landfill across town.
“Everything will be on concrete and under roof, so there will be no trash exposed to the environment,” Gore said.
Trash being contained in a confined building poses less of an infringement on the quality of life for area residents. However, residents still have concerns with WastAway using Murfreesboro as a test run, with the $45 million project being the first of its kind in the region. An online petition has amassed over 2,000 signatures protesting the facility. There is growing sentiment that this facility could still pose ecological and community risks, with the site located on a floodplain and positioned on top of a cave system. These geological barriers pose a significant risk in the potential for sinkholes, resulting in the area’s water table collapsing, critics say. Air pollution is still a concern for residents as well, with the potential of the production of biomass fuel affecting the environment.
CEO of WastAway Mark Brown
“Our primary mission is to help end our dependence on landfills,” said CEO of WastAway Mark Brown. “We can divert 90 percent of the municipal solid waste away from landfills and into beneficial reuse.”
Not all of the landfill’s trash can be converted into clean renewable energy. The remaining 10% of trash would have to be transferred to a different landfill. The leftovers would need a place to go, and Murfreesboro’s Middle Point Landfill has little room remaining to continue taking on even a percentage of the city’s waste.
“I wouldn’t want to push off what we’re dealing with in Murfreesboro to anyone,” said Mayor McFarland. “I think there are areas where it’s less densely populated where you don’t have those issues.”
In the meantime, an ongoing legal battle is waging between Republic Services’ Middle Point landfill and the city of Murfreesboro until the odor and toxic leaks into waterways subside.
Middle Point General Manager Mike Classen proposed a permit change from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Classen hopes that Middle Point can proceed with increasing its landfill capacity, dumping more waste on its large plots of land. The attempted land-grab by Republic Services began in 2011 and the company has since pushed for an increase in airspace for Middle Point Landfill. State leaders have opposed the efforts to expand the landfill, calling into question whether more landfill space would be beneficial to residents in the area.
“What we’re proposing to do is really just a continuation of normal landfilling operations. There’s no additional impact to human health, the environment, public welfare, including odors, including storm water runoff,” said Classen.
Middle Point representatives also point to the site’s “stellar environmental compliance record,” which includes 21 consecutive monthly Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation inspections without violation.
Despite the assurance of Republic Services regarding the safety of the landfill, the effects of massive landfills have already impacted the community.
Residents near the landfill have been growing increasingly distressed over air and water pollution and odor, and perhaps the facility on Butler Drive will benefit Murfreesboro residents, addressing the smell in the area and the shrinking of available landfill space.
With Murfreesboro continuing to experience massive amounts of growth, city leaders hope that the addition of WastAway’s new facility will bring sustainable solutions to the city’s trash conundrum.
