Mifflin County originally adopted its Municipal Waste Management Plan in 1991. The Pennsylvania Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act of 1988 (Act 101) requires that county municipal waste management plans be updated every ten years. Therefore, in 1997, the process of updating Mifflin County's plan was initiated. The plan update was authorized by the Mifflin County Board of Commissioners in 1998.

The goal of the Municipal Waste Management Plan is to ensure waste disposal capacity for the County over a period of ten years, as well as to define the required solid waste management systems. The updated plan was adopted by the Mifflin County Commissioners on February 20, 2003. The plan was approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on March 21, 2003.

The Planning and Development Department has continued its ongoing relationship with the MCSWA. In the spring of 2009, the MCSWA began the process of investigating ways to enhance and secure the quantity of waste delivered to its transfer station and to stabilize revenues to support the Authority’s operations. In order to facilitate this process, the Authority applied for a $200,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP). Mifflin County was awarded the grant in November 2009. The project includes a two-phase study to assist the Authority in enhancing its operations and to begin the process of updating the Mifflin County Municipal Waste Management Plan that was adopted in 2003. The Planning and Development Department are participating in the planning process, overseeing the development of the Municipal Waste Management Plan update, and administering the grant. The MCSWA hired Barton & Loguidice Engineers of Camp Hill, PA as the project consultant.

Phase I of the study was completed in December 2009. The study identified ways for the MCSWA to offer more competitive tipping fees at the transfer station, ways to lower operating costs, and steps to increase tonnages and revenue at the transfer station. The most significant recommendations of the study are to: 1) have the MCSWA enter large-volume discount contracts with waste haulers in return for a multi-year commitment of waste deliveries to the site; 2) have the MCSWA trim its staff to become more efficient and make other internal cost savings; and 3) negotiate disposal rate discounts with the MCSWA’s contracted transportation/disposal company in exchange for increased tonnage deliveries. Many of the recommendations have been implemented, and the MCSWA projected a balanced budget for 2010.

Phase II of the project involves updating the Mifflin County Municipal Waste Management Plan. The update will include the Phase I study recommendations; an evaluation of what has been undertaken since the plan was adopted in 2003; consideration of issues such as mandatory waste collection, open burning, and municipal waste bidding; the development of new recommendations; and an implementation strategy. As part of the plan update, the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) was re-established to provide public input and feedback during the process.

In addition, Juniata County was contacted for potential participation in the planning process. Juniata County also received grant funding from DEP to update their plan. The Mifflin and Juniata SWACs have been working together to discuss waste deliveries to the transfer station, flow control, joint planning opportunities for both Counties to address common needs, expanding recycling opportunities in Mifflin County, enhancing recycling services in Juniata County, solar and composting options at the former Mifflin County landfill site, and landfill gas recovery.