Frequently Asked Questions

The majority of the waste placed in Alliance Landfill is household waste generated from New York and New Jersey. Alliance also receives household waste from residents in Ransom Township, Taylor and from local commercial and industrial customers.

Building a state-of-the-art landfill that protects the community and the environment while meeting or exceeding regulatory guidelines is expensive. Today's landfills must receive a large amount of waste, often drawn from a large area, to be cost effective. This contrasts starkly with the community "dumps" that were prevalent just a few decades ago. These facilities were small and inexpensive. But they were also detrimental to the environment and caused vectors, water and air pollution, and odors. 

Our double-liner system is built to specifications that exceed state guidelines. And to make sure our liner system is operating properly, an independent, third-party contractor draws samples from the landfill's 12 groundwater monitoring wells every three months. The results of these analyses are reported to Alliance and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Alliance also is improving groundwater by controlling stormwater runoff and by eliminating the landfill property as a source of acid mine drainage.

PADEP field officers and Alliance's host community inspectors from Taylor and Ransom Township frequently inspect Alliance Landfill. They have 24-hour access to every inch of our operation and have direct access to landfill employees who can answer questions, correct problems, or, if needed, halt operations. And Waste Management encourages our employees to be an in-house team of inspectors. They are regularly updated on compliance issues and routinely reminded of their role -- and the company's mission -- as good neighbors and environmental stewards. Teams of Waste Management employees frequently travel to sites where they do not work and are asked to look for practices, procedures and facilities that could be improved or replicated elsewhere.

Yes. Alliance Landfill has in place numerous practices and procedures designed to make sure that the trucks using our landfill do not create a nuisance or create a hazard to motorists. First, all trailer trucks that use our landfill must use I-476, the former Northeast Extension. Trailer drivers who do not present a turnpike ticket at our scalehouse are issued a landfill citation. If a driver receives a second citation, he is suspended from the landfill for six months. If a driver receives a third citation, he is expelled from the landfill and barred from returning.

All trucks leaving the landfill are inspected twice, once by the driver and once by a Waste Management employee. Both of these inspections are intended to make sure that the trailer is in good condition, is free of mud and rocks that often lodge in tire treads, and is free of litter that could blow away once the rig returns to the road.

And twice each month, an Alliance contractor conducts a surprise, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT)-grade vehicle inspection at the landfill. Minor repairs spotted during these inspections must be made and verified before a truck is allowed to return to Alliance. Major problems must be fixed at the landfill or the truck must be towed away for repair.

We help by collecting and disposing of the waste generated in the community in a safe and proper manner. By safely managing waste from homes, businesses and institutions, we improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods we serve.

We hire locally - Alliance employees work, live and raise their families in Northeastern Pennsylvania. When we invest in local employees, they reinvest in the local economy as homeowners, shoppers and taxpayers. We also contribute directly to the local tax base through corporate, real estate and payroll taxes.

Waste Management and Alliance also support the local economy by investing millions of dollars each year in the purchase of goods and services from local vendors. Our financial support of these businesses helps them remain a viable part of the community.

As a company and as individual employees, we donate time, effort, money and resources to many community organizations, events and causes. Each year Alliance serves as a "classroom in the community" for hundreds of students who learn the nuts and bolts of modern waste disposal and the necessity of recycling during site tours. We also provide scholarships and grants that enhance learning, assist local organizations in conducting neighborhood, creek and river cleanup projects, and contribute to organizations from local Little Leagues to the Steamtown Marathon.

When waste is disposed of in landfills, it decomposes in a biological process, similar to a compost pile. As waste decomposes naturally, it produces methane gas. This gas is then collected through a system that includes wells, collection pipes and a compressor to create a vacuum.

At a landfill, methane gas can be handled in two ways: it can be safely destroyed in a flare, or harnessed and used as an energy source. Gas being produced at Alliance is now being burned but we are hopeful that in the near future, we can harness the gas and use it as an energy source.

Alliance Landfill is a continuing reclamation project. Decades of deep and strip mining caused tremendous disturbance to the property where we are building our landfill. Abandoned mine lands are environmental and safety hazards because they produce acid mine drainage that sickens waterways and often include high walls and pits that fill with water that can cause injury and death of trespassers. Our property was an even greater environmental hazard because after mining operations ceased, it served as a waste dump that did not have a liner, cap, or any of today's other advanced systems.

As Alliance is built, old trash from the unlined waste pits is removed and place on our liner. And as areas of the landfill are filled, capped, and closed, additional sources of acid mine drainage are eliminated.

Yes. Waste Management also operates Apex Waste Services in Dunmore and the Beach Lake Transfer Station in Wayne County, not far from Honesdale. Apex and Beach Lake employs more than 150 people and provide residential, commercial and industrial waste hauling services for customers in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. For more information about services available through Apex and Beach Lake, call 570-344-7812 or 1-800-222-2028.