- Bavarian requested a 37.7 million-ton expansion, while Boone County recommends about 15.6 million tons based on projected need
- Negotiations remain unresolved, with a nagging gap between proposed host agreement fees
- If no deal is reached, Northern Kentucky may need to find alternative landfill capacity to meet state requirements
Boone County officials are weighing a major landfill expansion proposal from Bavarian Waste amid ongoing negotiations with the company over the project’s scope and hosting fees.
In 2024, Bavarian presented Boone County with a plan to increase the landfill’s capacity to nearly 38 million tons, as its existing 11 million-ton capacity was nearly exhausted. As of 2023, approximately 9 million tons of solid waste had been deposited into the landfill, as reported in the 5-Year Solid Waste Management Plan approved that same year.
After two years of discussions, Boone County Engineer Rob Franxman updated the fiscal court during a meeting on March 24 on the current status of the negotiations, in addition to potential next steps.
“It’s been nothing but professional and constructive dialogue throughout. It’s been a good process; it is what it is,” Franxman said. “To date, (Boone) county’s made five proposals. Bavarian’s made counterproposals on most of those. We’ve not reached a final agreement for recommendation to you all or to NKSWMA (Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area) at this point in time.”
Bavarian Waste Landfill is located in southern Boone County, just off Interstate 71 at 12764 McCoys Fork Rd. It is the only landfill serving Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, as well as being the only landfill located within Boone County.
The landfill is managed by the Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area, a tri-county agency responsible for handling solid waste within the region. Its board is comprised of the judges/executives of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, as well as a commissioner from each county. The board was reestablished in late 2024.
In 2025, Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area adopted a resolution permitting Boone County to negotiate landfill capacity levels and directing the county to create a host agreement that would specify operational terms and fees.
So far, Franxman said the sticking points in negotiations between Boone County and Bavarian are a disparity in expansion capacity and a disagreement over host agreement fees, which are negotiated payments from landfill operators to local governments to compensate communities for hosting a landfill.
Regarding the size of the expansion, Franxman said Bavarian requested 37.7 million tons of additional capacity. In response, Boone County staff conducted an analysis that recommended a significantly lower figure of approximately 15.6 million tons, which they believe is sufficient to meet regional demands. However, Franxman said he felt like the two sides were close to agreeing on a number.
“We’ve not really had a discussion on that item after the May 14, 2025, meeting, so I feel like we’re in pretty close agreement, if not totally agreed, on that number,” he said.
A gap also remains between the two sides regarding host agreement fees. Franxman said that Boone County’s latest proposal is approximately 39% lower than the overall market average and about 56% below Pendleton County’s rate, which is around $4.35 per ton. Pendleton County is home to a large Rumpke landfill.
In contrast, Bavarian submitted a counter-proposal that is roughly 53% lower than the county’s proposed fee. Nick Bruggemann, the landfill’s site manager, explained the rationale for the company’s disagreement with Boone County over hosting agreement fees, citing financial pressures.
“From Bavarian’s point of view, I guess the sticking point with the fee – so any new fee that gets passed on us, Bavarian cannot absorb,” he said. “So that’s gonna have to get passed on to the residents or other businesses. We’re a family-owned landfill, we only own one landfill, and if you look at the next landfills, they would like nothing more than see us go out of business. “
Franxman outlined two possible future scenarios for each party, depending on whether the agreement passes or fails. If both sides reach an agreement, it must then be approved by all three Northern Kentucky counties–Boone, Kenton and Campbell–and then submitted to the Kentucky Division of Waste Management for approval, followed by another round of public input before a final decision can be made.
If negotiations fail, the region may not be able to expand the landfill. In that case, county officials would need to find waste disposal capacity elsewhere to meet state statutory requirements.