Industrial waste landfill planned near Collierville

Operators of a rubbish landfill just across the Mississippi line from the Collierville area plan to triple the size of the facility and transform it into a major disposal site for commercial and industrial waste.

Biloxi, Mississippi-based Team Waste LLC has applied for permits with state and federal regulators to expand and upgrade the Quad County Landfill, located north of Wingo Road and east of Quinn Road adjacent to the Mississippi-Tennessee state line. 

If approved, the project would bring major changes to the four-year-old landfill currently licensed to accept only low-soluble construction and demolition waste, often called rubbish, on a 38-acre portion of a 171-acre tract. Construction-demolition wastes include roofing shingles, bricks, wood and concrete.

Under the modifications, 16 of the current 38 acres would remain a rubbish disposal area, with the other 22 acres, plus 82 acres that are now undeveloped, used for the disposal of trash from commercial dumpsters, as well as industrial process wastes containing heavy metals, solidified petroleum substances and non-hazardous chemicals. The facility will not accept hazardous wastes or trash from residential households.

"It's kind of what I would call in-between a C-D (construction-demolition) landfill and full municipal waste landfill," said Mark Williams, chief of the waste division of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which is reviewing the proposed modification and expansion.

Michael Hohm, project engineer for Allen Engineering and Science Inc., which is helping with the Team Waste permit application, said the landfill will serve businesses in Shelby, Fayette, DeSoto and Marshall counties. "I couldn't tell you a timeline," for the expansion and upgrade, he added.

Hohm said the waste site will be underlain with a liner system that includes a high-density polyethylene barrier to prevent contaminants from seeping into groundwater layers. A piping system will collect liquid contaminants known as leachate.

MDEQ likely will spend about 120 days before approving or rejecting the expansion and the upgrade from a rubbish landfill to one that accepts commercial and industrial wastes, Williams said.

The Corps of Engineers also is reviewing a proposed permit under the federal Clean Water Act that would authorize Team Waste to relocate a portion of a stream to make way for the expansion.

Williams said the landfill operators would have to apply for further revisions, and get approval from the Marshall County Board of Supervisors, if they ever intend to begin accepting residential garbage.

Contact Tom Charlier at thomas.charlier@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-2572 and on Twitter at @thomasrcharlier