updated 2/14/2005
Mill Seat Landfill
The Mill Seat Landfill in the Town of Riga (Monroe Co.) is owned by Monroe County but operated by Waste Management of New York, a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc., the largest dump company in the world.
In January, 2005, the Riga Town Board approved Waste Management's request to open the dump to out-of-county waste. This decision will lead Waste Management to apply to the DEC for permission to expand the annual dumping volume beyond its current permit, set at 776,000 tons per year. At this rate the dump accepts approximately 35-40 tractor trailers of waste daily in winter months and 45-50 daily truckloads in the summer.
According to The Daily News (Batavia), Monroe County expects to get $400,000 more per year, or $3.7 million annually, and Riga will get $750,000 more year, or $1.8 million annually.
Riga will also get an extension of Monroe County's water system to North Johnson and Malloch roads, near the landfill.
Opened on May 13, 1993, Mill Seat is a 95-acre modern landfill that, until now, had an expected life span of 20 years.
The City of Rochester pays Mill Seat $50.00 per ton up to June 30, 1998, under an initial ten-year agreement with the landfill. (Currently fees at Chautauqua County's Ellery Landfill are about two-thirds of this.)
Basic information on the Mill Seat Landfill can be found at the University of Rochester's website.
Waste Management owns and operates the High Acres Landfill in Perinton (Monroe Co.) and the CID Landfill in Chaffee (Erie Co.). Its corporate sibling CWM Chemical Services owns and operates the northeast's only chemical waste landfill in Porter (Niagara Co.). In 2003, Waste Management obtained DEC permits for a new landfill in Albion (Orleans Co.), but the town denied local permits, stopping the dump. Waste Management has sued in Orleans Co. Supreme Court to convince a judge to overturn the town's decision, but towns in New York that just say no have never lost such a lawsuit.
