Closure planned as North Carolina landfill reaches capacity

The Brunswick County Landfill in Bolivia, North Carolina, is reaching capacity as more residents move in and debris and waste are being dumped, the Wilmington Star-News reports.

The county’s municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) landfill at 172 Landfill Road NE in Bolivia is nearing capacity and the county is preparing for eventual closure of the facility, Brunswick County Communications Director Meagan Kascsak tells the Star-News.

Brunswick County property owners, residents and business owners use the landfill to dispose of household trash, land-clearing debris, construction debris and other debris.

The total airspace permitted by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality for the landfill is about 1.3 million cubic yards. According to the most recent landfill survey completed July 2024, about 1.07 million cubic yards of airspace has been used.

For several years now, MSW and C&D debris have been sent to the county’s transfer station and hauled north to the Sampson County regional landfill in Roseboro, North Carolina. GFL Environmental is contracted to manage transferring MSW and C&D debris from the Bolivia facility to the Sampson County Landfill.

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“We are currently transferring approximately 99 percent of construction and demolition debris to the Sampson County Landfill,” Kascsak says.

Once the C&D landfill is closed, Kascsak says the transfer station at the landfill will still be used as it is currently and the 1 percent of C&D loads currently sent to the landfill will go to the transfer station.

“We also have many recycling programs that will continue at our landfill facility after the closure of the construction and demolition landfill in addition to the transfer station continuing to operate,” Kascsak tells Star-News. “These programs include our household hazardous waste collection facility, white goods recycling, electronic recycling, yard debris, scrap tire recycling, shingle recycling, along with many others.”

There is no date set for the C&D landfill closure. The county is not looking to add another landfill site, she says.