Huntingdon County Municipal Waste Management Plan

The Huntingdon County Commissioners have prepared a Huntingdon County Municipal Waste Management Plan in cooperation with Bedford and Fulton County with assistance from Gannett Fleming, Inc.  This plan has been prepared in accordance with the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act, Act of July 28, 1988. 

Huntingdon County notified all county municipalities of its intent to update its Waste Management Plan in a letter dated January 20, 2004.  This plan provides a description of current solid waste disposal and recycling practices analyzes alternatives and recommends methods for recycling and disposal.  The county advertised a Request for Proposals (RFP) to obtain the necessary disposal capacity to meet the state’s ten year requirement.  The draft plan has been reviewed by the County Solid Waste Advisory Committee.  The plan, in general, describes alternative waste processing and disposal systems that were evaluated for the County and discusses the basis for the selection of the proposed alternatives. 

Huntingdon County has a per capita waste generation rate of 4.08 pounds per day or 0.745 tons per year.  Based on this rate, Huntingdon County generates approximately 93 tons of MSW per day.  The MSW generation rate is taken from the 2007 PADEP Waste Generation and Recycling Annual Report.  MSW generation for the County in 2009 is estimated at 34,058 tons and is projected to increase to 35,347 tons in 2019.  9,577 tons of material was recycled in 2007.  This constituted 28% of the total amount of MSW generated.  An additional 939.3 tons of construction and demolition waste and 483.1 tons of sewage sludge is generated in the county each year.  Ninety two percent of the waste disposed is disposed at the Sandy Run Landfill in Broad Top Township, Bedford County. 

Source: County of Huntingdon

The Plan proposes to use nine (9) PADEP permitted municipal waste disposal facilities for disposal of Huntingdon County generated waste.  All municipal waste generated in the County is to be disposed at one of the following facilities:

     Clinton Co. Solid Waste Auth. – Wayne Township Landfill, Clinton County *
     Waste Management – Shade Landfill, Somerset County
     Waste Management – Southern Alleghenies Landfill, Somerset County  *
     Waste Management – Laurel Highland Landfill, Cambria County
     Waste Management – Mountain View Landfill, Franklin County
     Veolia – Greentree Landfill, Elk County *
          Interstate Waste – Sandy Run Landfill, Bedford County  *
     Interstate Waste – Mostoller Landfill, Somerset County *
     Interstate Waste – Community Refuse Service, Cumberland County *

          *  Currently receives waste from Huntingdon County

The County will continue to support recycling activities in order to meet the goal of recycling 35% of all municipal waste generated within the County.   Activities include drop-off recycling and curbside recycling, collection of household hazardous waste and public education.

The Plan provides for continued cooperation between Bedford, Fulton and Huntingdon Counties in solid waste planning and recycling through the South Central Counties Solid Waste Agency.

Act 101 provides for a 90 day Draft Plan public review and comment period.  Any person may submit comments on the Plan to the county at any time during this 90 day comment period (August 26 till November 26, 2009).  All comments received during the public review process and the County's written responses to these comments will be attached as an appendix to the Final Plan.

The County has indicated in the official public notice published in The Daily News that the Draft Plan can be reviewed during normal business hours at the Huntingdon County Planning and Development Department, at the County Commissioners office and at all public libraries. Additional copies of the Draft Plan may be purchased from the County at reproduction and handling costs.

After distribution of the Draft Plan to all 48 county municipalities, the County Commissioners held a public hearing on September 15, 2009.  The 90 day review and comment period extended from August 26, 2009 until November 26, 2009.  Two comment letters were received.  An additional public meeting was held on April 1, 2010.

The Plan which was adopted by the Huntingdon County Commissioners on January 26, 2010 failed to receive ratification from municipalities representing a majority of the County population.  The County Commissioners met with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee on May 17, 2010 to review municipal comments on the plan and have approved the plan with the changes recommended by the Advisory Committee.  Municipalities had an additional 45 days to ratify the plan as approved by the Commissioners on May 25, 2010.

The Huntingdon County Municipal Waste Management Plan received approval by a majority of the County’s 48 municipalities representing a majority of the population.  As July 16, 2010 the ratification results are as follows:  Negative Resolutions or letters – 4 municipalities; Positive Resolutions – 16 municipalities; No Response (meaning positive) – 31 municipalities.  Based on these numbers 95.13% of the population of our municipalities have ratified the plan.  Forty four municipalities or 91.6% have ratified the plan.  These results were submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.  DEP approved the Plan by letter September 17, 2010. The Huntingdon County Commissioners adopted a Municipal Waste Management Ordinance on April 26, 2011, completing the Plan update. 

Links to the entire plan, County Muniicipal Waste Management Ordinance and Model Municipal Solid Waste Ordinances are found below: 

Adopted Huntingdon County Municipal Waste Management Ordinance