Monroe County has entered an agreement to lease day-to-day operations of the county's Mill Seat Landfill in Riga. Through a competitive process, Waste Management was selected to operate the facility and to construct the remaining phases of the landfill. Monroe County will retain oversight and monitoring authority over the entire Mill Seat site and operation.

Under the plan, Waste Management would assume over $43 million in county debt on the facility while guaranteeing the county stable landfill rates for the next decade. As part of the agreement to take over operation of the landfill, Waste Management will accept sludge from the county's Van Lare and Northwest Quadrant Wastewater Treatment plants.

This is a key component in the county's conversion of the treatment plants from incineration to a more environmentally friendly centrifuge based operation. That conversion will allow the county to eventually tear down the smokestacks at those facilities. In fact, the Van Lare facility's auxiliary smokestack has already been completely removed.

County Executive Jack Doyle pledged that every aspect of the Host Community Agreement with Riga would be upheld under the new arrangement. Monroe County would remain responsible for the county's recycling, household hazardous waste and recycling education programs. Additionally, the county would retain oversight for environmental monitoring, to ensure the landfill is being run in a safe and responsible manner.

Under the agreement, Waste Management will be required to build the next "cell" of the landfill and construct a methane gas collection system throughout the existing landfill. The gas collected will likely be burned in a steam/electric generation plant.