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The City of Greensboro, Chatham County and Haywood County are just some of the North Carolina governments that are struggling with landfill problems. Angry residents are bombarding Greensboro’s city council over reopening the White Street landfill. Haywood County is in the process of saving money by privatizing its landfill. Chatham County has just given up on locating a new landfill and will continue paying to send trash to the private landfill in Sampson County.

 

It seems that landfills bring out the NIMBY (not in my backyard) in everyone. No one wants a landfill in his backyard. But government officials rarely ask why or consider solutions to the NIMBY problem.

 

At the John Locke Foundation, we look at landfills this way. Landfills, whether publicly or privately owned and operated, are necessary. In fact, they are the least expensive, safest and most environmentally friendly way to dispose of solid waste and should be used before other alternatives. Unfortunately, NIMBY makes building new environmentally safe landfills a difficult, if not impossible, task for elected political leaders.

 

Analyzing the NIMBY issue really boils down to looking at the costs and benefits. All county residents benefit by having an inexpensive, environmentally sound way to dispose of their trash. Property owners near a landfill pay costs in increased truck traffic on local roads, an unsightly landscape and, depending on proximity, bad smells. As well, market conditions can, at times, decrease the value of adjacent land; although in Raleigh new housing was built and sold right next to the North Wake landfill while it was in operation.

 

Thus, justice requires that those who pay inordinate costs for benefits received by the entire community should receive compensation. Granting fair and just compensation for these costs will greatly diminish the NIMBY factor that occurs whenever a new landfill is needed.

 

There is no magic solution to determining the amount of compensation that is fair and just. One of the most straightforward options that should be tried is to reduce or eliminate entirely the property taxes on land near the new landfill. Imagine what would happen to the NIMBY phenomenon if a county said that property within a half-mile of the new landfill would pay zero property tax and land within a mile would pay only half of the usual property tax bill as long as the landfill was in operation.

 

While the amount of compensation needed to deter NIMBY could only be determined by counties and cities willing to experiment with this approach, North Carolina governments should start thinking about and adopting policies that provide compensation to those property owners who are forced to bear the costs of nearby landfills.

 

For more information about landfills in North Carolina, please see my October 2005 report: "Bring Out Your Trash: Wake County’s Dilemma and Why Solid Waste Markets Matter"

 

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