Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle del Hudson
Garbage Juice
Por Mariel Fiori
October 2026 You don’t have to be a scientist to understand the issue of toxic liquid from garbage, known as leachate. You just have to be a human who drinks water. Do you drink water? I do. This issue affects everyone who lives in and drinks water from New York and the Hudson Valley, because that liquid can make its way into our rivers and lakes.
In fact, it is a nationwide problem. Renowned environmental activist Erin Brockovich recently wrote about the toxic leachate seeping from landfills into rivers, streams, and other water sources: the problem worsens "when owners go bankrupt or vanish, neighbors and taxpayers are left holding the bill.”
Rebecca Martin, of New York River Watch, explained leachate, or “garbage juice,” as she calls it, and what could be done about it on my radio show, La Voz con Mariel Fiori. Leachate is a flow of toxic liquid waste generated when rainwater or snowmelt passes through waste in landfills. There are 25 active landfills and thousands of inactive ones in New York State. Leachate can contain PFAS, heavy metals, pesticides, and thousands of other chemical substances, including contaminants that were banned because of the risks they pose to human health and the environment but that can still be found in decades-old trash.
This garbage water can be poison to our waterways. In August, a New York River Watch report revealed that, between 2019 and 2023, more than five hundred million gallons (532.3 million gallons) of leachate from modern landfills, originating in both New York and other states, were sent annually to municipal wastewater treatment plants. However, Martin explained, these facilities are designed to treat human sewage, not the chemicals found in leachate. Nearly a third of this leachate, about 167 million gallons, ended up in rivers and lakes officially designated as drinking water sources, including the Hudson, Mohawk, and Niagara Rivers, as well as Lake Ontario.
Kingston, for example, receives 4 million gallons of this toxic liquid, Martin said. It passes through the city’s wastewater treatment plant and ends up in Rondout Creek, on its way to the Hudson River. “We want the city to stop accepting leachate. It’s not the city’s fault; this is a practice that has been going on for a generation,” Martin explained.
I also spoke on my radio show with Marc Rider, Executive Director of the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA). The UCRRA manages two transfer stations as well as recycling and composting programs, and it creates the county’s solid waste management planning. Rider acknowledged that leachate, or “garbage tea,” as he calls it, can contain PFAS and other chemical substances. However, options for managing leachate are currently limited. UCRRA must also deal with a part of the problem that dates back much further: old, inactive landfills.
Modern active landfills feature an impermeable liner system designed to prevent that toxic liquid from reaching groundwater. In Ulster County, for example, data from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) shows there are 46 inactive landfills, about 20 of them without liners, and only two fall under the jurisdiction of the local UCRRA. This situation is not unique to Ulster County. Across New York State, there are 2,000 inactive landfills that may still be generating their own garbage juice. Currently, there is no plan to collect and clean up leachate from these inactive sites.
This is what Martin and Rider call the "leachate loophole." The DEC is currently reviewing regulations for managing leachate from active landfills, along with the funding needed to implement them, under Parts 360 and 363 of Title 6 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR), which address the treatment and disposal of landfill leachate. In September, alongside a coalition of over 100 signatory organizations and community groups, they sent a letter to the DEC urging the agency to expand these regulations (and resources) to include inactive landfills.
Martin already knows the fight will be a long one. Like Rider, she wants landfills to manage their own leachate rather than sending it to municipal treatment centers. Furthermore, she wants "chemical companies to bear the burden of proving their chemicals are safe before incorporating them into products. We want these chemical companies to pay."
Meanwhile, we as consumers can rethink our level of consumption and the amount of garbage each of us generates daily. To reduce waste, composting organic scraps is recommended. Rider noted that food waste accounts for one-quarter of the refuse in landfills. We can also reuse, avoid compulsive buying, repair things, and, of course, recycle.
Mariel Fiori
Managing Editor
COPYRIGHT 2026
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
Rebecca Martin, of New York River Watch, explained leachate, or “garbage juice,” as she calls it, and what could be done about it on my radio show, La Voz con Mariel Fiori. Leachate is a flow of toxic liquid waste generated when rainwater or snowmelt passes through waste in landfills. There are 25 active landfills and thousands of inactive ones in New York State. Leachate can contain PFAS, heavy metals, pesticides, and thousands of other chemical substances, including contaminants that were banned because of the risks they pose to human health and the environment but that can still be found in decades-old trash.
This garbage water can be poison to our waterways. In August, a New York River Watch report revealed that, between 2019 and 2023, more than five hundred million gallons (532.3 million gallons) of leachate from modern landfills, originating in both New York and other states, were sent annually to municipal wastewater treatment plants. However, Martin explained, these facilities are designed to treat human sewage, not the chemicals found in leachate. Nearly a third of this leachate, about 167 million gallons, ended up in rivers and lakes officially designated as drinking water sources, including the Hudson, Mohawk, and Niagara Rivers, as well as Lake Ontario.
Kingston, for example, receives 4 million gallons of this toxic liquid, Martin said. It passes through the city’s wastewater treatment plant and ends up in Rondout Creek, on its way to the Hudson River. “We want the city to stop accepting leachate. It’s not the city’s fault; this is a practice that has been going on for a generation,” Martin explained.
I also spoke on my radio show with Marc Rider, Executive Director of the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA). The UCRRA manages two transfer stations as well as recycling and composting programs, and it creates the county’s solid waste management planning. Rider acknowledged that leachate, or “garbage tea,” as he calls it, can contain PFAS and other chemical substances. However, options for managing leachate are currently limited. UCRRA must also deal with a part of the problem that dates back much further: old, inactive landfills.
Modern active landfills feature an impermeable liner system designed to prevent that toxic liquid from reaching groundwater. In Ulster County, for example, data from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) shows there are 46 inactive landfills, about 20 of them without liners, and only two fall under the jurisdiction of the local UCRRA. This situation is not unique to Ulster County. Across New York State, there are 2,000 inactive landfills that may still be generating their own garbage juice. Currently, there is no plan to collect and clean up leachate from these inactive sites.
This is what Martin and Rider call the "leachate loophole." The DEC is currently reviewing regulations for managing leachate from active landfills, along with the funding needed to implement them, under Parts 360 and 363 of Title 6 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR), which address the treatment and disposal of landfill leachate. In September, alongside a coalition of over 100 signatory organizations and community groups, they sent a letter to the DEC urging the agency to expand these regulations (and resources) to include inactive landfills.
Martin already knows the fight will be a long one. Like Rider, she wants landfills to manage their own leachate rather than sending it to municipal treatment centers. Furthermore, she wants "chemical companies to bear the burden of proving their chemicals are safe before incorporating them into products. We want these chemical companies to pay."
Meanwhile, we as consumers can rethink our level of consumption and the amount of garbage each of us generates daily. To reduce waste, composting organic scraps is recommended. Rider noted that food waste accounts for one-quarter of the refuse in landfills. We can also reuse, avoid compulsive buying, repair things, and, of course, recycle.
Mariel Fiori
Managing Editor
COPYRIGHT 2026
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
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