Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority’s tipping fee is lowest in the region

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The tipping fees for disposal of municipal waste at the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority — now the lowest in the region — could increase in 2026.

“A rate increase may be necessary,” GLRA executive director Skip Garner told the board recently. “We haven’t raised tipping fees since 2020, and it’s probably time.”

GLRA currently charges $72 per ton for municipal waste, according to a comparison of tipping fees in neighboring counties from a GLRA document. The disposal site with the next closest rate is Berky’s Transfer in Fleetwood, which charges a minimum of $73 for up to 1,000 pounds of municipal waste with additional tonnage at $100 per ton.

For comparison, Lancaster’s fee is $99 per ton for municipal waste and York’s is $105 per ton, according to the document.

GLRA also charges $72 per ton for construction and demolition waste — again, the lowest in the region.

“We’re working on the budget right now, and while we like being the lowest, we will be looking at the fee to keep us in a strong financial position,” Garner said.

He also reported that revenue from tipping fees exceeded budget in July by 9.7 percent. The volume of waste delivered in July also was up — 12,807 tons in comparison to 11,825 tons in July 2024.

In other business, the board approved Garner’s request to submit a Minor Permit Modification to DEP to allow use of municipal solid waste ash to cover the daily loads of refuse trucked into the landfill.

In the last several months, three incinerators have approached GLRA about taking the ash to use as a cover material, Garner told the board. The incinerators are in Dauphin, Lancaster, and York counties, he said after the meeting.

Landfills are required to cover waste received each day to prevent blowing of litter, lessen odors and deter animals. Currently, GLRA is permitted to use soil and “clean fill,” a designation that qualified certain construction and excavation material as an equivalent to soil, GLRA engineering manager Jim Zendek explained in an email.

But the landfill also is permitted to use several alternative daily covers (ADCs), which for GLRA are auto fluff and tarps. Use of municipal waste ash would be an additional ADC.

“Incinerator ash makes a good cover and has the potential to save us use of soil,” said Garner, who estimated GLRA spends between $3 and $4 per ton to have soil trucked in for use as a daily cover.

In contrast, the incinerators likely would pay GLRA for the ash as well as truck it in, Garner said.

Incinerator ash can contain metals and salts.

“We have concerns about toxicity,” Zendek said in an email. “We would get lab test results for any material potentially coming to our site to make sure it wouldn’t create any problems for our required testing/monitoring.”

Zendek updated the board about progress on the refurbishing of Tank T-100 that holds leachate, the liquids that drain as rainwater filters through waste deposited in the landfill. GLRA has two holding tanks: Tank T-100, which is about 30 years old and can hold 1 million gallons, and Tank T-101, which was rebuilt last year and can hold 300,000 gallons, Zendek said in an email.

Removal of the sediment in Tank T-100 proved more difficult than anticipated, causing a delay in completion, but the work should wrap up the week of Sept. 8, Zendek said.

The board also learned:

• DEP awarded GLRA a $75,000 grant for its Battery Recycling Educational Campaign for calendar years 2025 and 2026.
• DEP reported no violations after its monthly inspection of the landfill.
• GLRA has created a fill plan to outline completion of the Schilling landfill and move all operations over to the Heilmandale landfill. Final capping of Schilling will take until the end of 2027.

The Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority board meets at 1800 Russell Road. The next meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9. The meetings are open to the public and do not require registration.