Shreveport, Louisiana, makes it illegal to take trash out of state

Shreveport City Council passes ordinance to ban private sanitation companies from taking waste to out-of-state landfills.

truck tipping trash into a landfill

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Shreveport City Council in Louisiana has passed an ordinance to make it illegal for private sanitation companies to take waste collected in the city to out-of-state landfills, KTBS reports.

The ordinance requires local waste haulers to use the city’s sole landfill, Woolworth Road Landfill. In 2021, the city sued certain haulers for leaving Shreveport to take waste to nearby DeSoto Parish in an effort to save money.

“We knew that there were certain companies taking things to Texas and taking revenue out of our landfills,” Councilman Grayson Boucher tells KTBS. “We can’t stop the DeSoto Parish traffic, but we can stop it from going to Texas.”

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Council members say the city has lost out on several million dollars in revenue from private waste hauling companies taking waste out of state, leaving the city in a shortfall.

Companies that violate the ordinance could be fined $500.