[4] In 1980, in an attempt to limit out-of-state waste disposal at the Central Landfill, the Rhode Island Legislature passed a law to require that trucks bringing trash from other states have a contract with the Solid Waste Management Corporation, without requiring the company to grant such contracts.

[6] The landfill continued to accept some out-of-state waste, but in 1986 began to turn away trucks headed to the dump from Massachusetts, which had increased the amount it sent over the border to about 1,000 tons every day.

"[3] After a couple members of the board resigned, then-governor Donald Carcieri told other members not to continue going to board meetings, allowing O'Connell to report directly to the governor to restructure the company, removing about a third of the employees and implementing a merit-based business corporate philosophy.

In 1986, the entire landfill was added to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund National Priorities List.

[1] In 2012 the Massachusetts-based non-profit Toxics Action Center included Central Landfill in its "Dirty Dozen" list of the worst polluters in New England.