TDEC warns Tennessee faces regional landfill shortfalls as local denials slow expansions

Chairman Karen Reeves convened the Senate Energy, Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee for its 2026 opening session and heard a presentation from Jeremy Hooper, an advisor in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's Bureau of Environment and a member of the state's solid waste task force.

"We're seeing strains on regional landfill capacity," Hooper told the committee, summarizing task‑force findings that regional remaining life at many Class I (municipal solid waste) landfills is shrinking and that the state faces planning and permitting constraints if expansions are blocked.

Hooper said Tennessee has roughly 7.2 million residents and cited per‑person waste estimates used by the state (about six pounds per day, or roughly 2,200 pounds per year) and the federal EPA (about five pounds per day). With population growth projected to about 7.9 million by 2040, he said the state will need substantially more disposal or diversion capacity.

The TDEC presentation explained how remaining life is reported by landfill operators and displayed a map using three visual signals: ownership/operation (circles for locally run sites, squares for locally permitted but contractor‑operated, triangles for privately owned/operated), size (tons per year), and color (green = 10+ years; yellow = 3–10 years; red = <3 years). Hooper said Middle Tennessee showed more yellow and red sites while East and West Tennessee showed more green, and he warned that closure or denied expansion in one region would shift volumes to other regions.

Hooper described the legal and administrative obstacles that often block expansions. He identified the so‑called "Jackson Law" (referred to in the presentation as Part 7) and Part 8 regional solid‑waste boards as local legal avenues that let counties or municipalities approve or disapprove landfill projects; if a local body denies an expansion under those authorities, Hooper said, TDEC cannot approve the project. He also noted zoning and other permitting requirements can add time and complexity.

"If they deny it, TDEC cannot review and approve that," Hooper said, describing how those denials operate procedurally.

The presentation outlined costs and timing: landfills and expansions are capital‑intensive; operating and post‑closure expenses are significant (Hooper said post‑closure monitoring for Class I sites is a minimum of 30 years), and applicants should plan for a lengthy approval timeline — Hooper estimated 16 to 32 months or more for permitting depending on studies, water permits, zoning and other approvals. He said TDEC requires financial assurance from landfill operators and that the department currently has access to more than $1 billion in financial assurance funds across permitted sites, with nearly $400 million associated with publicly run landfills.

Hooper framed alternatives — transfer stations, convenience centers, recovered materials processors, recycling and composting — as helpful but insufficient on their own to resolve regional shortfalls. He told senators recycling markets and composting infrastructure in Tennessee remain limited, and that private recyclers will invest only when they can rely on consistent volumes of material.

Senators asked questions. Senator Pote asked whether Tennessee is shipping waste out of state; Hooper said export is increasing in parts of Middle Tennessee and offered to follow up with specific numbers. Senator Bowman asked whether industrial recruitment coordinates with solid‑waste planning; Hooper said regional boards are supposed to consider incoming industrial waste in 10‑year plans but he could not confirm consistent practice across every region.

Hooper closed by urging attention to the issue: "Managing waste is as critical to economic and community development as managing sewage and providing safe drinking water," he said, and he offered maps and data to committee members for follow‑up.

The committee took no vote on a policy change during the briefing; it recorded the calendar note that Senate Bill 564 was rolled for three weeks and then adjourned.