What's the future for the proposed Winters Bros. waste transfer station?

Winters Bros. Waste Systems, the Long Island-based recycling and trash hauling company, has been acquired by Houston-based WM.
The purchase price for the deal, which was completed on July 15, was not announced. It’s unclear what the transaction could mean for Winters Bros.’ plans for building a controversial waste transfer station in Yaphank near the Town of Brookhaven landfill to haul trash off Long Island by rail once the landfill closes in late 2027 or early 2028.

Will Flower, a Winters Bros. vice president, said in an email that what the deal means for the proposed waste transfer station is “to be determined” and that “no decisions have been made” about it.

“The company will conduct a thoughtful and extensive review of the Long Island marketplace to evaluate infrastructure and the future needs to ensure Long Island’s waste is managed in an environmentally friendly manner,” Flower said.

WM issued a statement confirming its acquisition of Winters Bros., but didn’t address the proposed waste transfer station.

“WM has acquired Winters Brothers Waste Systems, which provides solid-waste management and recycling services to municipal, residential, commercial and industrial customers in Long Island,” the company said. “This acquisition will grow WM’s footprint and add complementary assets and operations, as well as a team with a shared focus on safety, outstanding service and operational excellence.

The Long Island Advance reached out to officials for the Town of Brookhaven, who didn’t provide a comment.

The Brookhaven NAACP, which strongly opposes the proposed waste transfer station, said the organization will continue to fight it.

“The NAACP remains firmly opposed to any effort to subvert local zoning to build the largest waste transfer station in New York State history in a potential Environmental Justice area,” Brookhaven NAACP president Dr. Georgette Grier-Key said in a statement. “We would hope—and have some reason to believe—that Waste Management would have more sense than Winters Bros. and abandon this bad idea. But if not, Waste Management will learn soon enough that the NAACP will not back down in an environmental justice fight.”

Brookhaven town officials have said using rail to haul waste off Long Island rather than trucking it off Long Island is key to handling waste disposal once the Brookhaven landfill closes.

But groups, including the Brookhaven NAACP and New York State NAACP, oppose the proposed transfer station, saying that new transfer stations in Brentwood and Medford can handle the load. They also say a Yaphank rail transfer station will result in more trucks and pollution in North Bellport, an area which already has a high rate of childhood asthma.