Solid reforms for solid waste

If you listen to some waste-industry lobbyists, a bill in the N.C. General Assembly could make it nearly impossible to build landfills east if I-95 and send trash-disposal costs soaring. That argument is about as easy to swallow as a two-week-old bologna sandwich.

The Solid Waste Bill of 2007, the product of discussions during a year-long moratorium on new landfills, is intended to ensure that landfill operators protect the environment, take financial responsibility for leaks and other problems, and keep heaps of trash away from recreational and environmentally sensitive areas.

It establishes a computer recycling program (how many of us have the remnants of obsolete technology lying around the garage?), and requires a traffic study.

In short, it is an attempt to protect North Carolina residents from the environmental dangers posed by dumps that store just about everything we throw away. The threat isn't theoretical.

According to the bill's sponsors, more than 700 abandoned landfills dot our state's landscape, their rotting contents often leaking into drinking water supplies. A $1.50-a-ton tax (the final amount may change) on landfill-bound garbage would help pay to clean them up, and to promote recycling - which, of course, could reduce the amount of trash that has to be taxed.

The process involved many a compromise and included environmentalists, representatives of the waste industry and other groups that might be affected. Some critics - including opponents of a giant regional landfill proposed for a wetlands-rich area in Columbus County - worry that the rules aren't tough enough. But the N.C. Coastal Federation, a diligent environmental watchdog group, seems to think the version that passed the state Senate Friday is a good compromise.

There's still the matter of competing bills in the N.C. House. Some of the Senate bill's most controversial provisions, including significant environmental protections, are missing.

One House alternative is to extend the moratorium that's set to expire Wednesday. If the solid waste bill becomes too watered down, that might be the wisest option.

But it doesn't get us any closer to solving the perpetual problem of disposing of our garbage without trashing our environment.