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You can almost see the ocean from the top of the Crapo Hill Landfill in Dartmouth, a mound of soil and garbage, capped with sod, rising nearly 300 feet above sea level. From some angles, the giant, grassy hill tucked in the trees between Dartmouth and New Bedford hardly looks — or smells — like a landfill at all.

From other angles, the hard work of trucking, dumping, and covering solid waste sits on full display. At the uncapped hill next door, trucks dump and spread municipal garbage onto the ground while swarms of hungry seagulls dive-bomb the discarded refuse. 

It smells like you would think.

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For years the Crapo Hill Landfill, which serves both the Town of Dartmouth and the City of New Bedford, has been on the verge of closure, leaving elected officials to scramble for a long-term solution to the region’s looming waste crisis. In 2024, the city estimated that the landfill could hit capacity within four to five years.

Now, officials with the Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, the public entity that owns and manages the landfill, estimate that Crapo Hill could run for at least another 13 years with the approval of a new expansion plan.

Gas meters dot the capped side of the Crapo Hill Landfill in Dartmouth. Credit: Brooke Kushwaha / The New Bedford Light

The district hopes to build a new landfill cell at the site of a retention pond on the property, potentially adding another 750,000 cubic yards of waste storage space for the city and town. On Saturday, Sept. 13, the district will host an open house for Dartmouth and New Bedford residents to tour the site and learn more about the proposed cell.

The landfill is currently made up of six individual cells combined to form a hill-like structure, each lined to prevent waste from leaking or shifting. The new cell, along with a reduction in the amount of waste the landfill accepts from vendors outside of New Bedford and Dartmouth, would extend the landfill’s life for over a decade, district officials said.

The project currently sits with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. If approved, the new cell could be operational within two to three years. 

Although not included in previous estimates, the seventh cell has always been part of the long-term vision for the landfill, district executive director Anthony Novelli said.

“It was just more about exactly where we’re going to put it, and how we’re going to build it, what we’re trying to finalize, and how to do it in the most cost-effective way,” Novelli said. “It’s not like we just decided, ‘Oh, we can build another one over here.’”

The district has also shifted its business practices to accept less outside waste in order to serve Dartmouth and New Bedford longer, Novelli said. While Crapo Hill offers discounted “member” rates to Dartmouth and New Bedford, for decades the landfill has also accepted waste from commercial vendors at non-member rates to subsidize its business. Since 2019, Novelli said the landfill has seen a 45% decrease in non-member waste, a trend the district plans to continue.

Instead, the district is now looking for new, creative ways to make money off its trash. Solar panels already sit atop the landfill’s capped cell, which is also dotted with gas meters monitoring the landfill’s methane and carbon dioxide emissions. Once processed, the natural emissions produced by the landfill’s decomposing waste can power up to 1,700 homes, district committee chairman John Beauregard said. (Estimates like these can be imprecise, however, as The Light previously reported.)

Aside from offering waste a chance at a second life, these revenue streams also help keep costs down for the people of Dartmouth and New Bedford, Beauregard said. The district gives Dartmouth and New Bedford an annual cost assessment based on expected waste services and costs. In fiscal year 2026, the district is assessing both Dartmouth and New Bedford $992,541, a 6% increase from the previous year. (Still, even with relatively steady landfill costs, New Bedford’s overall waste collection and disposal budget has ballooned from $5.4 million to $8.7 million in the past two years.)

“Our goal has always been to never have to go back to the City of New Bedford or the Town of Dartmouth and ask for money,” Beauregard said. “And we are on track for that.”

The new life expectancy comes as local advocates question the long-term sustainability of New Bedford’s waste management. All across Massachusetts, cities and towns are increasingly exporting their waste to out-of-state landfills and incinerators as local facilities hit capacity. In August, hundreds of New Bedford residents railed against a proposed waste transfer station that would handle an estimated 1,500 tons of solid waste set for exportation per day.

Organizations like Just Zero, a Massachusetts-based national nonprofit, have called for finding sustainable solutions to waste management — from waste reduction to composting to more robust recycling programs.

As far as waste reduction, Beauregard and Novelli both pointed out that the landfill regularly partners with New Bedford and Dartmouth on programs and community education around reuse and recycling. But until New Bedford reaches its zero-waste future, the trucks at Crapo Hill will continue to unload and the seagulls will continue to squawk.

Looking out at New Bedford from the top of Crapo Hill, Beauregard doesn’t see an end anytime soon. He pointed out that when the landfill first opened in 1995, it had initially been expected to reach capacity in 2015, yet it has continued on for another decade. 

“This is probably the best investment that the City of New Bedford and the Town of Dartmouth have ever made,” Beauregard said.

Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.

5 replies on “Crapo Hill Landfill seeks to extend its life with new waste storage cell”

  1. Good article, while it is not the final solution, it is good news for New Bedford Taxpayer’s that the landfill’s life has been extended. Now an effort should be made to look for a trash solution that will not destroy a community and affect health of residents.

  2. Instead of focusing on the waste crisis we should instead focus on the cause, the consumption crises and our addiction to consumerism.
    While extending the life of a landfill sounds good look at the closed and capped landfills already in the area, Fall River, New Bedford, Westport, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and the ones seen along the highways all over mass, all a part of growing the economy.
    Every item has a cradle to grave story to tell, far removed from the buy it now button and that needs transparency behind it.

  3. It’s not only tax payers who will feel the adverse affects of annual increases for waste disposal, every resident will pay for it, property owners will pass the cost increases along to tenants, and business owners. The waste, and recycling costs produced by every office, in every city, and town throughout MA will continue to rise along with the collection, and transportation costs and fees, it’s a never ending battle.

    1. Smokeless Incinerator Technology is great idea.

      A Smokeless Incinerator is a device designed to burn waste materials without producing smoke, often using forced air supply to enhance combustion efficiency.

      Smokeless Incinerator Benefits:

      Reduces Environmental Impact, including air pollution and complies with waste disposal regulations.

      Higher combustion temperatures lead to complete waste incineration, minimizing ash and residue.

      Smokeless incinerators are an effective solution for waste management, especially in areas with strict environmental regulations.

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