This petition is being sent to Governor Bill Lee and multiple contacts in the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC), and The Central Tennessee Region Solid Waste Planning Board.

We are asking them to deny the expansion the Middle point Landfill. 

Officials at TDEC Emails:

Director of Solid Waste Lisa Hughey: Lisa.Hughey@tn.gov

Nashville Field Office Manager Mike Horsley: Mike.Horsley@tn.gov

From the Daily News Journal:

"Middle Point Landfill operates on 803 acres on East Jefferson Pike just north of Murfreesboro and is owned by Republic Services, a publicly traded corporation in Phoenix. The company reported to the state in 2020 that Middle Point has "10 years and 8 months of remaining life."

County officials worry the landfill could close much sooner and are examining solutions that can include composting, recycling and converting waste to energy. 

The county has had a contract since 1995 pertaining to Middle Point Landfill operations, which originally was with BFI Industries, Nolen said. The arrangement included the county's solid waste trucks being able to dump trash from recycling and trash drop off centers for free, and collect host fees from trash hauled in from out of county that generate $800,000 to $1.2 million in annual revenues, he said. 

Republic Services, the landfill's current owner, was one of 10 businesses that previously provided information about its technical services to the county's Public Works Committee, said Nolen. He anticipates all of these companies have submitted formal proposals.

About 70% of the 3,700 tons of trash per day hauled into Middle Point comes from outside Rutherford County. Middle Point Landfill in 2019 reported that it was accepting waste from 34 counties.

Middle Point Landfill operators applied Sunday for a state permit to increase trash volume by 82.5% in Rutherford County.

The Middle Point Landfill application seeks expansion of the disposal area to be 306.75 acres. 

The current permitted volume of the landfill is nearly 38.8 million cubic yards, and the expansion would allow 32 million additional cubic yards, said Kim Schofinski, a spokeswoman with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation."

We need Republic Services to start upholding better practices including increased transparency. We also ask them to come to the table with Rutherford County the encompassing cities government to work out a solid waste. The purpose of this petition is to ask the Central Tennessee Regional Solid Waste Board and the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation(TDEC) to reject the expansion permit.

Please use the template to send emails to your elected officials and to the officials at TDEC. (To look up your elected officials: go to GOVOTETN.com.)

“The undersigned residents of Rutherford County OPPOSE any expansion of the Middle Point landfill, and ask that the expansion permit application be denied. Our quality of life has been negatively impacted by the operation of this super-dump, from health and odor issues to blasting and home value depreciation. We fear further expansion will increase the chance of environmental catastrophe. The landfill has become a nuisance and we feel Republic Services is taking advantage of their position to the detriment of the residents of Rutherford County & Middle Tennessee."