- 1940s: Landfill off White Street and Nealtown Road opens.
- 1963: The council votes to purchase 184 acres off White Street near Huffman Mill Road for landfill and park purposes.
- 1994: Greensboro City Council approves a series of land purchases for landfill expansion.
- June 1995: Residents of a northeast Greensboro neighborhood protest the city's plan to open a new phase of the White Street Landfill near their 5-year-old subdivision. The Greensboro Human Relations Commission investigates claims by Nealtown Farms residents that the city is discriminating against the mostly-black community by expanding the landfill across the street from their homes.
- Nov 1995: Residents of Nealtown Farms file suit against the city of Greensboro, charging that municipal officials are guilty of environmental racism in planning a new phase of the White Street Landfill close to the predominantly black neighborhood.
- June 1996: The city reaches a settlement with the residents of Nealtown Farms. The city agrees to cover any loss for residents unable to sell their homes.
- 2001: The City Council votes to close the White Street Landfill by 2008 and the Planning Board approves a trash transfer station on 29 acres on Bishop Road.
- September 2006: Burnt Poplar Road transfer station is completed at a cost of $8 million.
- 2008: Greensboro ships about 200,000 tons, or 400 million pounds, of trash a year to Uwharrie Environmental Landfill in Montgomery County.
- Jan. 1, 2007: White Street Landfill no longer accepts garbage from homes and businesses. Trash must be taken to Burnt Poplar Road transfer station.
- April 2008: The Greensboro City Council votes 6-3 to keep the landfill closed to household waste.
- May 2009: City council members agree that the city staff will create a comparison study of the costs of operating the landfill with the current transfer station and look at potential prices to buy nearby homes.
- June 2, 2009: Northeast Greensboro residents ask the City Council not to reopen the landfill to household trash.
- Nov 2009: N.C. Department of Health and Human Services researchers found more cases of pancreatic cancer than expected in residents who have lived near the White Street Landfill and a former dump site nearby, but site no proof that that the dump caused the cancer. The report concludes that more research is needed.
- Sept 2010: Experts from the state Department of Health and Human Services meet with residents to discuss health concerns and confusion over the state report.
- Jan 2011: Former mayor, Keith Holliday urges District 2 residents to battle the landfill expansion.
- June 2011: Guilford County Superior Court Judge Richard W. Stone issues a preliminary injunction against the City Council, barring it from entering a contract that would add new dumpsites. The injunction will stay in place until the case goes to trial
Compiled by Diane Lamb, News & Record Researcher
Source: News & Record Archives