James Leggate, Pascack Valley Community Life
Trash-disposing company Waste Management has closed its Hillsdale facility and borough officials need to find funds to cover the cost of sending garbage out of town.
The company stopped using the Brookside Place transfer station in February after heavy snow caused part of its roof to collapse, according to Waste Management spokesman John Hambrose. Mayor Max Arnowitz said they informed the borough last week that they would be formally closing the facility Aug. 1, though Hambrose wrote in an email that the company is continuing to evaluate whether they will reopen the Hillsdale station.
The closing comes just as the 10-year “host community” agreement between the company and the borough ended Thursday.
In exchange for hosting the transfer station, trash collectors were able to drop off Hillsdale’s garbage for free, under that agreement. Arnowitz estimated it saved the borough between $250,000 and $300,000 per year.
Waste Management began billing Hillsdale for taking their trash after the February roof collapse, but the borough hasn’t been paying because the agreement was still in effect, according to Arnowitz. Hambrose, however, wrote in an email that the agreement to provide the borough with free waste disposal was contingent on the transfer station being open there. Hillsdale’s trash has been going to Waste Managements transfer station in Fairview since the collapse.
Borough officials may need to make emergency appropriations to cover the cost for this year and were planning to meet to address the issue, Arnowitz said.
Hillsdale Environmental Commission 