Posted On July 28, 2022.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Record growth has caught up to a Nashville landfill, which now is cutting off small haulers from dumping their construction and demolition waste.

The Southern Services landfill, owned by Waste Management, says it will no longer allow C&D waste from third-party haulers after August 31.

The move comes after the Metro Nashville Solid Waste Board denied an expansion to the dump in March 2021. Now, Waste Management says the landfill is near capacity.

“I was shocked. I sent it to all my project managers last night,” Houston Harris, owner of B&H Landscape and Tree Services, said. “I was getting texts back like, ‘what are we going to do, how are we going to get around this,’ and I don’t know at this point.”

Harris fears the decision will significantly impact industries like roofing, construction, demolition, and excavation.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to do what we got to do. And if we don’t have a place to take our waste, then it will be a complete problem.”

Waste Management has landfills for C&D waste in Lewisburg and Camden, but both cities are more than 50 miles from Nashville.

Harris says most alternatives will put a dent in construction efficiency and timeliness. And it’s not sure, Harris says, that neighboring counties will accept waste from Davidson County.

That’s yet to be determined.

“Unless you’re using a large dumpster company, you have no alternative to haul off waste,” Harris said. “We’re at [the landfill] multiple times a day. It’s just a necessary thing for us to conduct business.”

Waste Management sent this statement regarding the landfill notice to WSMV:

WM owns and operates Southern Services, the only construction and demolition landfill in Davidson County. Following years of record-setting growth and development in Nashville and across the region, Southern Services is near capacity. After nearly two years of attempts to work with Metro and the Solid Waste Region Board to secure a modest expansion of the permitted landfill area at Southern Services within WM’s existing site, WM has made the difficult but necessary decision to stop receiving construction and demolition waste from third-party haulers at the site after August 31, 2022. We are committed to working with our customers to help them find alternative solutions for their C&D waste disposal, as well as with city and regional leaders to find a sustainable long-term solution to managing the region’s C&D waste.

-WM

Original Article: Nashville landfill to shut out construction companies