The Growing Business of Garbage

CHARLOTTE — Waste disposal is increasingly becoming a business, with garbage as a commodity. Often communities can dispose of their garbage at the lowest cost by shipping it long distances to large, regional waste disposal sites. To get better deals, producers of garbage are even banding together, to offer landfills a long-term predictable stream of waste. Between 1990 and 2000, interstate shipments of waste increased by 30 percent. After adjusting for inflation, disposal costs actual fell over the 10-year period. Recent developments in Wake and Surry counties highlight this trend.