NORWICH – Chenango County’s Brisben Refuse Transfer Station could be upgraded with a new waste containment building similar to the one in use at the North Norwich Transfer Station.

At present, garbage haulers and residents make deliveries to a 1970s era steel compactor that uses too much electricity and is inconvenient for customers because it often breaks down, county lawmakers say.

By switching to a containment building, municipal solid waste can be more easily rolled off into containers and hauled off to the county’s landfill in Pharsalia.

“It would make everything more efficient to have the tractor-trailer making an arc from Brisben to Pharsalia, from Pharsalia to North Norwich and then back to Pharsalia,” said town of Norwich Supervisor James J. McNeil, speaking on behalf of the Chenango County Public Works Committee.

The idea was generated at the committee’s meeting in September. In order to eventually purchase the building, the Finance Committee was directed to create a capital reserve account funded by $10,000 in excess tipping fees.

“We’ve wanted to do this for about five years,” DPW Director Randy Gibbon told members of Finance this month. “It makes sense; it’s fine, we need this upgrade to be more efficient.”