State Rep. Bryan Terry, R-Murfreesboro, proposed legislation to ensure Tennessee landfills properly handle aluminum recycling waste to protect public health and the environment.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – State Rep. Bryan Terry, R-Murfreesboro, proposed legislation to ensure Tennessee landfills properly handle aluminum recycling waste to protect public health and the environment.
The Tennessee Secondary Aluminum Waste Management Act, or House Bill 2133, prohibits solid waste landfill operators from mixing household trash with secondary aluminum waste and from placing additional waste on or over existing units containing those materials.
“This common-sense legislation protects Tennesseans by requiring modern, science-based landfill practices that prevent dangerous chemical reactions before they occur,” Terry said. “Tennessee families, workers and communities deserve confidence that disposal practices won’t put neighbors at risk from harmful gases or groundwater contamination.”
Secondary aluminum waste includes byproducts from recycling such as aluminum dross, salt cake, baghouse dust and other furnace residues.
While the bill does not ban disposal of secondary aluminum waste, it requires that it be placed in dedicated, permitted landfill units such as a monofill or monocell, designed specifically to isolate this material.
When this waste is not isolated and mixes with moisture and household trash, it can cause a chemical reaction releasing highly flammable hydrogen gas and, in some cases, ammonia vapors that can harm nearby residents and landfill workers.
The state’s largest landfill, Middle Point Landfill (MPL) in Rutherford County, accepted aluminum waste from the mid-1990s until 2007. MPL stopped accepting the materials after incidents with aluminum waste buried at out-of-state landfills. Since then, the monocells at MPL containing those materials have been closed.
The bill would also direct the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to create rules to implement these requirements, including permitting criteria for dedicated secondary aluminum waste units and performance standards to protect human health and the environment.
As part of a broader effort to improve solid waste policy in Tennessee, Terry guided the creation of the Advisory Task Force on Solid Waste, which will meet over the next four years to study statewide disposal practices and explore alternatives such as recycling and incineration.
The Tennessee Secondary Aluminum Waste Management Act will be heard in Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee in the coming weeks.
Bryan Terry represents District 48 in the Tennessee House of Representatives, which includes the eastern half of Rutherford County.
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