The state Department of Environmental Protection gave the Alliance Landfill the green light this month to begin disposing of a once widely used chemical that has been banned from production for 45 years. 聽The DEP approved a major permit modification for the roughly 770-acre Waste Management-owned landfill in Taylor, Ransom Twp. and Old Forge, allowing Alliance to accept polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, waste. Alliance applied for the permit modification March 29.
鈥淎fter a careful and comprehensive review, the DEP determined Alliance Landfill鈥檚 major permit modification to be compliant with all regulatory standards and issued the approval on July 15th to begin accepting (PCB waste) at its facility,鈥� DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said in an email Wednesday.
Waste Management also accepts PCB waste at its Grand Central Landfill in Northampton County, which is just south of Stroudsburg, and its Fairless Landfill near Philadelphia in Bucks County. The Alliance and Grand Central landfills are the only landfills under the DEP鈥檚 Northeast Regional Office to accept PCB waste, Connolly said. The Wilkes-Barre-based regional office encompasses Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties.