Editor's note: This story was updated to correct the amount of money that would be saved if the Cape and Islands switched to a waste-by-rail system. A study by Geosyntec Consultants was developed for Barnstable County and the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension.

As Cape Cod runs out of space to dump thousands of tons of trash, planners have a faraway look in their eyes.  

Shipping that trash out of state by rail may be one solution, according to a study developed for Barnstable County and the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension. Having the trash hit the road could also decrease greenhouse gas emissions, according to the document drawn up by Geosyntec Consultants.

Cape Cod and the Islands are dealing with shrinking in-state dumping spots, a volatile recyclables market and an increase in transportation costs, according to a presentation made to the Barnstable County Commissioners on Feb. 16.  

Those factors are causing a rise in prices for towns and residents, said Patty Daley, legal and policy specialist at the Cape Cod Commission. To offset those problems, the study identified potential long-term solutions. 

Waste-by-rail would mean that the Cape would haul its municipal solid waste by rail car to states with sufficient landfill capacity, such as Ohio or Virginia. The Cape could do that by bolstering current rail infrastructure at the Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station and the Yarmouth Transfer Station. 

Waste-by-rail would decrease greenhouse gas emissions by about 2,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide yearly, compared to current methods of trucking waste to a regional incinerator or local landfills.

Out-of-state landfills have methane capture and waste-to-energy capabilities, Daley told commissioners. It could also potentially save the region $15-34 million  over 15 years.

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Cavossa Disposal, a waste disposal company in Falmouth, started waste-by-rail operations to Ohio five years ago. 

“It helped us to manage the waste stream better, more efficiently,” said company owner Carl Cavossa. 

Cavossa said waste-by-rail is superior to trucking trash from an environmental perspective, because one rail car can fit as much as five trucks worth of trash. That also reduces traffic, he said. 

Hauling trash away in trains also helps address decreasing landfill capacity, he said. Before, when a landfill such as Bourne’s would reach its daily capacity, trucks would be forced to go off-Cape with their trash, which would increase traffic.

The worst-case scenario would be people dumping their trash in the woods, Cavossa said. 

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My Cousin Vinny’s Junk Removal in Mashpee has also struggled with decreasing landfill capacity. Because the company is a licensed, insured business, the main transfer stations it can access are the Sandwich transfer station and the Bourne landfill. 

However, if either of those places reaches its daily capacity before My Cousin Vinny’s can make it, the company is out of luck. 

“We can’t work anymore until we’re able to dump,” said Laurie Depina, an employee at the company. 

In some cases, My Cousin Vinny’s has had to turn away jobs for up to eight days, costing them as much as $5,000, because there is nowhere else to dump. 

Not everyone thinks hauling away trash in train cars is the optimal solution. 

Dan Barrett, Integrated Solid Waste Management general manager in the town of Bourne, said waste-by-rail has its shortcomings, too. 

“Just because you’re shipping it out of state doesn’t make it go away,” said Barrett. 

Certain types of waste, like organics and household waste, he said, can decompose while it's being transferred and emit methane, and the carbon footprint of transporting waste to a different part of the country is problematic. 

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Barrett is also concerned that the region could become vulnerable if it depends too much on out-of-state disposal. For example, in the case of a hurricane or a flood, where trash needs to be hauled away quickly, it’s more efficient to have a local place for disposal, he said. 

“As a resident of the state, I would like to see it be handled somewhat on a local basis,” he said. 

According to Geosyntec's study, organics (food waste and yard waste) make up the largest portion of waste disposal on the Cape and Islands. Of the 85,000 tons of waste that the Cape and Islands dispose of, organics make up 30%. 

One solution the study identified is backyard/community composting, where residents would compost their food and yard waste individually or in small groups. 

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Another option called for creating three sub-regional composting facilities for food waste. The process for that would be taking your food waste to a transfer station, where it would be taken to a sub-regional composting facility.

Waste-by-rail combined with those sub-regional facilities could save the county up to $29.3 million. 

Composting organics locally could decrease three times as many greenhouse emissions as existing trash disposal. 

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For Cavossa, composting organics may be even more important than recycling.  

He gave the example of a typical small trash can near a person’s desk. That trash may have paper clips, a pen or some paper, he said. But the heaviest thing in that can is food waste, such as a banana peel or some discarded leftovers, he said. 

The next steps will be for the Cape Cod Commission to meet with town officials to see which solutions they’d be most interested in.