Poor economy cuts out-of-state garbage in Va.

The amount of out-of-state garbage entering Virginia dropped last year by 7.5 percent, one of the sharpest declines since the state became a major trash importer in the 1990s, according to a report released Monday.

The waste decrease is not expected to last for long, however.

Officials with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, who compiled the report, attributed the decline to the national economic malaise. They predicted imports would likely rise again when consumers have more money to buy more goods and, subsequently, more stuff to throw away.

In 2008, Virginia landfills and incinerators accepted 6.6 million tons of waste from 27 other states, Canada, Mexico, Central America and South America, according to the report.

That was lowest tonnage since 2003. It also bucked an upward trend over the past decade that has made Virginia the No. 2 state in the nation for accepting imported trash; Pennsylvania is No. 1.

Maryland sent the most garbage to Virginia last year, followed by New York, the District of Columbia, North Carolina and New Jersey, the report found.

While the majority of out-of-state waste was household garbage, other shipments included incinerator ash, sludge and construction debris, such as concrete blocks, drywall and wood pieces.

The annual report on solid waste management in Virginia is required by state law and is delivered to the General Assembly. It mandates that permitted waste facilities - there are 197 of them in Virginia - compile and transmit their data to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Two of the facilities did not do so last year, though officials could not say Monday why that happened or what penalty they might face.

In all, the facilities said they handled 22 million tons of waste, down about 5.5 percent from 2007. That statewide total was the lowest since 2002.

It mirrors what is happening in South Hampton Roads. The regional trash agency, the Southeastern Public Service Authority, said its intake is down to about 1.4 million tons through May 2009 from about 2 million tons through May 2008.

SPSA stopped accepting out-of-state waste in September as a matter of policy, not economics, said Tom Kreidel, an agency spokesman. Indeed, SPSA lost about $1.1 million in revenue by no longer taking imports.

Environmentalists and tourism officials have been pressing to limit waste shipments for years, without success. That's because the Supreme Court has ruled that garbage, like shoes or toys or computer chips, is protected by the "interstate commerce" clause for free trade under the Constitution.

Some lawmakers would like to change that. They have tried, without success, to pass legislation in Congress empowering states to curb imports.

Jim Sharp, executive director of Campaign Virginia, an advocacy group that supports state trash limits, said U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, a Virginia Republican, has reintroduced such a bill this year.

No hearing has been scheduled as yet, and none occurred last year, Sharp said.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com