Landfill Operators in New York State Push Back Against DEC Proposal for Leachate Treatment: They See Reaching Proposed Contaminant Levels as Unrealistic and Too Expensive

     Jacob Wallace has covered this story for Waste Dive. He wrote in August that environmental groups, including New York River Watch, were pushing for stronger leachate rules for landfills. They want to see more advanced pretreatment of leachate.

“DEC is proposing to require active landfills to pretreat leachate for PFOA, PFOS and 1,4-dioxane. But the group would like to see more advanced pretreatment, as well as a broader reconsideration of the approval process for manufacturing chemicals.”

     Liners keep leachate from accessing groundwater. Collection systems and processing are the next step in the leachate management process. Minimally processed leachate is then typically sent to wastewater treatment plants where it is diluted with stream and lake water, followed by treatment to manage pH, oxygen levels, and total suspended solids (TSS). New York State has been granted primacy by the EPA to make and enforce its own leachate management rules.

     The groups argued that too much of the burden falls on wastewater treatment plants, which may not be equipped to handle many contaminants as well as high organic content. Pat Byrne, an analyst at Bluefield Research, noted:

“The problem is, if you try and treat really high organic material water with that stuff, it’s going to mess up that adsorptive capacity, and your costs go through the roof.”

     Wallace notes that updated EPA rules for PFAS contaminants and Effluent Limitation Guidelines for landfills are expected soon. The environmental groups also want to see inactive landfills, which still produce toxic leachate, included under the new DEC rules. They are currently exempted. They also, rather impractically, want to limit the use of chemicals in manufacturing that enhance leachate toxicity. It is a “precautionary” approach which is unlikely to be implementable.

“We need to be taking a precautionary approach to this problem, and we need to be making sure that as much as possible we’re getting this contamination out of the leachate,” said Martin.

     The DEC rules want to see a 99.9% limit on up to 250 contaminants. Wallace notes:

“Industry voices, including those from WM, Casella Waste Systems and the National Waste & Recycling Association, say additional controls could be implemented on leachate, but criticized the proposal as overly broad and expensive.”

     If approved, the New York DEC rule would be the first rule in the country to specifically require landfill operators to treat leachate for contaminants.

“As written, the proposal would require landfill operators to develop a leachate treatment plan within one year of when the rule becomes effective and gives wastewater facilities four years to continue receiving leachate from landfills as they transition to more advanced treatment systems.”

     The proposal would require landfills to build specialized leachate treatment facilities for on-site leachate treatment. 

     The industry groups said that the 99.9% rule was impractical and that different contaminants need to be treated differently in terms of detection limits.

“The industry group laid out seven recommendations in its public comments. It specifically called out the 99.9% limit, joining with individual companies that claimed a universal limit could approach the limits of detection. They said any rules on contaminants should be based on research for each contaminant that includes detection methods and available treatment technology.”

     The DEC estimated that treatment facilities could cost anywhere from $3 million to $50 million with annual operating costs of about $1.5 million to $8 million.

     Sam Nicolai, Casella’s vice president of engineering and compliance, countered:

“This is an extraordinarily expensive and wasteful approach to leachate management and a missed opportunity to develop a well-coordinated approach to PFAS.”

     Company Waste Management cited previous studies that showed PFOS, PFOA and 1,4-dioxane ranged from 0.3% to 10.2% of total contaminant presence, with an average of 3.3%.

     Christine Fetten, who leads Brookhaven’s Department of Recycling and Sustainable Materials Management, noted that the 99.9% limit:

 “…is not consistent with past rules and regulations” regarding water. She also said the proposal would make designing new systems for treatment facilities “very, very difficult.”

     Wallace notes that other public comments stressed a regional approach, proposing centralized facilities treating leachate from multiple landfills:

“Several local officials said a regional approach, in which centrally located facilities handled leachate from multiple landfills, would be the easiest way to keep treatment costs low and avoid unnecessarily duplicating efforts.”

     The public comment period just ended, and those comments are now being reviewed.

 

 

References:

 

Landfill operators push back on New York state leachate proposal. Jacob Wallace. Waste Dive. September 14, 2026. Landfill operators push back on New York state leachate proposal | Waste Dive

Environmental groups push for strengthened leachate rules in New York: New York River Watch, a group formed by riverkeeper advocates, seeks to expand a proposed state rule to require landfill leachate pretreatment. Jacob Wallace. Waste Dive. August 17, 2026. Environmental groups push for strengthened leachate rules in New York | Waste Dive