Small town, big landfill: New York’s largest garbage dump could grow larger

More than 200 miles away from the Kingston, New York, Target store's plastic bag recycling bin lies Seneca Meadows, a landfill that does not recycle plastic bags.

Yet the facility in Seneca County, which is New York's largest garbage dump, was the last place where a plastic bag tracker placed by ABC News inside the recycling bin at the Kingston Target ended up pinging.

It was just one of 46 trackers dropped off by ABC News and collaborating ABC stations at retail stores nationwide as part of an investigation called, "Trashed: The Secret Life of Plastic Recycling."

"We've suspected for quite a while that our recycling programs don't work as they're supposed to," said Rich Swinehart, CEO of Waterloo Container, a business near Seneca Meadows. "We've suspected that a lot of recyclables end up in the landfill, and that's exactly the root of the problem."

Half of the trackers last pinged from incinerators or landfills, many of which are located in rural areas like Seneca County. Some local residents have voiced concerns about living near Seneca Meadows, citing periodic odors, truck traffic, and fears of health risks.

In a statement to ABC News, Target said that last year, the company recycled nearly 24 million pounds worth of plastic bags and plastic film materials.

"We take seriously the role we play in reducing waste and we're committed to looking at our processes to improve our recycling efforts," the statement said in part.

"I understand the position that the world needs a place to dispose of their waste," said resident Bill Lutz. "The problem is the waste is concentrated in such large amounts in such a small community."

Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former EPA regional administrator, said another concern associated with landfills can be the release of methane gas from rotting garbage and its contribution to climate change.

"Landfills and incinerators are not good neighbors," Enck added. "They are making the local environment more polluted than it should be."

Just like ABC's plastic bag tracker, many items at Seneca Meadows come from places located a distance away, according to filings posted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The landfill's 2020 annual report shows that less than 1% of the waste that it received that year came from Seneca County, while 6.59% came from Ulster County, home to the Kingston Target.

"We don't know what's in the air. We don't know what's in the water. We don't know what's coming from the landfill," Swinehart said. "It's the not knowing that makes you lose sleep at night."

Lutz's wife Annette, who was a member of the Seneca Falls Town board, died in 2019. Prior to her death, Annette Lutz helped pass a local law that would make Seneca Meadows close in 2025.

However, landfill owner Waste Connections has challenged that law, filing a request for an expansion that would allow for more garbage to be brought in instead.

Kyle Black of Waste Connections said the landfill is a valued part of the community, adding that, "a small group of vocal opponents" are making "baseless claims."

"Many experts agree that closing Seneca Meadows would not reduce the waste produced in New York State. Instead, it would directly lead to more pollution," Black told ABC News, citing increased traffic of trucks moving waste further away.

"That waste would likely be trucked to neighboring states with less stringent waste management regulations, to facilities with inferior infrastructure and staff that haven’t been trained to our industry leading standards," Black added.

"As long as Seneca Meadows is operational, we will always be there for our neighbors—from investing in new, green technologies to supporting worthy charities, and creating and retaining good paying jobs."

To Bill Lutz, the last thing that his community needs is more garbage.

"We've done our part," he said. "It's time for it to move on someplace else."