In 1988, Pennsylvania passed the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act (Act 101), which requires Pennsylvania counties to:- Prepare, adopt and implement a Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan for municipal waste generated within the county's boundaries.
- Insure the availability of adequate permitted processing and disposal capacity for the municipal waste which is generated within the county's boundaries.
In Northampton County's case, this is accomplished by contracting with facilities for disposal capacity. Requests for Proposals for Disposal Capacity resulted in disposal facilities being identified in the 2010 Municipal Solid Waste Plan as facilities that have capacity to accept Northampton County generated municipal waste. This is Northampton County's way of assuring municipal waste generated within the county has a place to go.
Disposal capacity is normally provided for a ten year period. New capacity arrangements and a revised plan are required at the expiration of the existing capacity agreements. In conjunction with Barton& Loguidice, Northampton County will begin a Municipal Solid Waste Plan revision for years 2021-2030.
A final draft MSWP revision was submitted to PA DEP in August 2020 for review and approval.
This project was paid for in part with funding made possible by the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling, and Waste Reduction Act (Act 101 of 1988.)
The Act 101, Section 901 Planning Grant is administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Planning and Waste Minimization.