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Sen. Sutherland pushes producer-responsibility approach as Tennessee landfills near capacity
Summary
Sen. Sutherland told the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee that regional landfills are filling and urged a producer-responsibility recycling plan; industry witnesses described voluntary grants and warned against raising consumer costs. The committee agreed to send the bill to the general subcommittee for further work.
Sen. Sutherland told the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee that Tennessee’s landfills are coming to capacity and urged lawmakers to pursue market-based recycling and materials recovery rather than simply siting more disposal facilities. He told the panel that the state’s “Jackson law” makes siting new landfills difficult and that private investment and new markets for byproducts could reduce landfill pressure.
"Houston, we have a problem," Sen. Sutherland said as he described landfill forecasts and possible recycling options, including colocating recycling centers near existing landfill sites so operators could ‘mine’ stored materials. He said industry interest is strong, citing Coca‑Cola, Corning and aluminum manufacturers as potential buyers for sorted materials.
Pat Couples, representing the Waste to Jobs Coalition, said the measure before the committee is not a bottle‑deposit bill and would exclude small businesses using a $10,000,000 revenue threshold. "There's no deposit system and no new burden on bottlers," Couples testified, adding the proposal would preserve local businesses while directing materials back into Tennessee industry.
Greg Adkins, for the Beverage Association of Tennessee, described voluntary industry investments in local recycling infrastructure and noted longstanding industry taxes and grants that support litter and recycling programs. He cited specific grants: "We gave a almost 1000000 dollar grant to put a bottle optical sorter in the Murf," he said, as an example of private funding supporting rural sorting capacity.
After questions from members about consumer prices, scale and legal constraints, Sen. Sutherland asked the chair to invite two named industry representatives for further conversation and requested the bill be placed on the general subcommittee calendar so stakeholders could continue negotiating details. Chairman Reeves moved the measure, and the committee reported it to general sub for further work.
