Newton County (Georgia, USA) officials proposed, on Tuesday 4 March, a public private partnership (PPP) agreement for the county's landfill.

Under the proposed agreement the landfill could bring about three or four times the amount of waste it currently takes per day.

The plan includes an agreement between Newton County and East Georgia Land and Development Company, who have been embroiled in a lawsuit for 18 years. The firm owns 424 acres adjacent to the existing landfill, which would be purchased by the county for US$8.5 million.

The county plans to pay using lease payments made to the county by a third-party private operator of the landfill, Green Hills P3 LLLP, which would take over operations of the landfill for a 25-year period with the option for two 10-year extensions.

Green Hills would make quarterly lease payments to the county and the county would agree to invest US$1.5 million for the installation of a new methane gas collection system within three years of the agreement.

At the moment only waste from Newton County is accepted in the landfill (300 tons per day), but if the landfill accepts waste from anywhere in Georgia it could received about 1,000 tons per day.