A new cell at the Lunenburg Landfill, which completed construction at the end of December, is seeing some positive results, the CEO of landfill company Container First Services (CFS) said.

Rob Guidry said CFS, when it purchased the Lunenburg Landfill in 2013, had initially built an expansion to Lunenburg’s existing cell, the place where waste is buried.

Guidry said the new cell is more modern and has a more consistent operation as a result

“The overall operation is a lot smoother,” Guidry said.

The existing cell is no longer in use as it’s at capacity, Guidry said.

Guidry said the new cell began construction in August 2018, in which roughly $3.8 million was spent on construction.

Guidry said the tonnage requirement for the landfill operation is still at 1,000 tons a day.

Guidry said while CFS has tried to cut back on third party volume, or out of state waste, it is still accepting waste at sites Petersburg, Blue Ridge and Dinwiddie County.

The Tri-City Landfill in Petersburg, owned by CFS, is the subject of a lawsuit with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the Virginia Attorney General, which was announced in November 2018.

Gregory Bilyeu with the Virginia DEQ said the litigation could temporarily halt, or stay, depending on a request by DEQ to potentially revoke the permit.

DEQ issued a notice to CFS and Meridian Waste representatives March 5 regarding the hearing. The notice outlines the decision to potentially revoke the permit. It would only be reissued, the notice cites, for “the limited purpose of closure and providing post-closure care.”

Bilyeu said a formal hearing concerning the permit is expected to be held in the summer.