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Mobile County Commission considers Chastain Landfill service-area expansion and higher daily tonnage
Summary
Commissioners heard split public comment on a permit modification asking to raise Chastain Landfill’s maximum daily volume from 1,725 to 5,000 tons and expand its service area to counties in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi; staff said the city authority recommended denial and a motion to deny was made and seconded in the meeting (no roll-call tally appears in the transcript).
Mobile County commissioners took public testimony and debated a permit modification for the Chastain Landfill that would increase the maximum daily volume from 1,725 to 5,000 tons and expand the landfill’s service area into multiple Alabama, Florida and Mississippi counties.
Jamie Petbees, a resident who said she has submitted prior filings to the commission, argued the application is consistent with prior approvals and the county’s solid-waste practice. “We have not seen a staff report,” Petbees said, adding the proposal would increase competition, help lower disposal costs for residents and generate a host fee of “50¢ per ton on all waste that comes in from outside of Mobile County.”
Tina from environmental services told the commission the City of Mobile Solid Waste Disposal Authority recommended denying local approval at its Nov. 12, 2025 meeting and read from the county solid-waste plan, saying the plan “does not allow municipal sanitary waste to be hauled into the county for disposal.” She told commissioners her office had not finalized a staff report because of the authority’s recommendation.
Pete Ream, chairman of the City of Mobile Solid Waste Disposal Authority, urged approval and described Chastain as “the most environmentally friendly landfill in this county,” noting a multimillion-dollar gas-recapture system due to come online and projected royalty revenue that would be held in reserve for future landfill needs. Ream said an expanded service area would allow the facility to compete on price and lower costs for local customers.
Commissioners raised competing considerations. One commissioner said residents living near Chastain have opposed additional outside waste for decades and stated an intention to vote to keep the landfill’s current limits in place. A motion to deny local approval was made and seconded during the item introduction; the transcript records the motion and second but does not include a roll-call tally or an explicit recorded outcome.
What happens next: the record shows the authority’s recommendation against approval and public commenters on both sides. The commission’s motion to deny was entered on the record; staff did not provide a formal numerical vote count in the transcript excerpt.
