Tinian Mayor Jose San Nicolas, in his report to the people, said the landfill project has three phases: the construction of the new landfill, the creation of a transfer/recycling station and the closure of the existing dump.
He said the project is almost completely funded with $5.5 million in federal CIP funds.
But the federal government also approved the reprogramming of this amount so it can be used in the installation of the instrument landing system at the Tinian airport as requested by local leaders.
According to the mayor, the environment assessment study has been completed for the proposed new landfill site in the Atigidon area, and they are now ready to proceed to the design and construction phase upon approval of the land use agreement by the U.S. military.
He said the Department of Public Lands will designate the site for the transfer or recycling station and then the project will proceed to the permitting, design and construction phase.
“The closure of the existing dump will be by capping, but can only be done after the new landfill is completed or an alternative solution of disposing Tinian’s solid waste is found,” the mayor said in his report.
To close the existing dump prior to the start of the MRDC hotel casino and golf course project, the Tinian leadership “is exploring the feasibility of exploring Tinian’s non-recyclable solid waste to Saipan landfill,” San Nicolas said.
Tinian’s existing dump is not compliant with environmental regulations and poses numerous environmental and health hazards to the public.
It is near the airport and may also cause environmental degradation of the soil, surface and groundwater, air and vegetation.
Moreover, the dump site is being considered for a possible golf course project by the Marianas Resort Development Corp.
In 2005, the volume of waste in the open dump was estimated to be approximately 45,000 tons or 150,000 cubic yards, San Nicolas said.
Based on a per capita waste generation rate of 4.06 pounds per person per day and an average resident, transient, and visitor population growth rate of 5 percent annually, the overall solid waste generated on Tinian by the year 2035 is estimated to total approximately 306,008 tons, he added.
