2024 Holiday Schedule

Crapo Hill Landfill

History

The Crapo Hill Landfill is an award-winning, state-of-the-art lined landfill serving the solid waste management needs of the Town of Dartmouth and the City of New Bedford. The landfill sits on a 152 acre wooded site located in North Dartmouth on the Freetown line. It was purchased by the District in 1982 after Dartmouth and New Bedford joined together to form a Refuse District under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40, Section 44A-K and a special act of the State Legislature. The District is governed by the District Committee consisting of, three representatives from Dartmouth and three representatives from New Bedford.

The landfill is currently 39 acres in size and has been constructed in phases. The landfill accepts about 100,000 tons of solid waste per year. Roughly 50% is residential solid waste from Dartmouth and New Bedford, and 50% is commercial solid waste brought in by a variety of haulers.

The portions of the landfill that have reached final grade are capped with an impermeable ‘sandwich’ of plastic liner and clay-like materials.

To date, 22 acres have been capped. The ultimate height of the capped landfill will be 320 feet above mean sea level.

Landfill Gas Electric Plant

Gases created by decomposition within the landfill are collected through a system of perforated pipes installed throughout the landfill. The gas is piped to the electric plant operated by CommonWealth New Bedford Energy, LLC where it is burned in Caterpillar engines to generate 3.4 megawatts of electricity. The power is sold to Eversource.

Congratulations from SWANA!

Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District has been selected to receive the 2010 Gold Landfill Management Excellence Award!

AND

Greater New Bedford Landfill Gas Utilization Project at the Crapo Hill Landfill has been selected to receive 2010 Silver Landfill Gas Utilization Excellence Award!

Did You Know?
Crapo Hill landfill generates enough gas to light 3500 homes every day. Turning landfill gas into energy reduces global warming.