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Twice this decade, the Greensboro City Council voted to close the White Street Landfill. On Tuesday, the council decided it wanted to talk yet again about the possibility of once again dumping household waste there.

The vote prompted a horrified Councilwoman Goldie Wells to say: "The landfill was supposed to be a closed issue." Those who live near the landfill in northeast Greensboro probably are thinking the same thing.

It's tough to revisit such a heated topic -- no one wants a landfill in their back yard, after all -- especially after the council's two previous votes on the matter seemed emphatic enough. There's also an election in seven weeks, which makes such a discussion even more politically perilous than it would be otherwise.

Those factors help explain but do not excuse the council's reluctance to dig up the issue again. Earlier this summer, Mayor Yvonne Johnson tried to squelch a request from Councilman Mike Barber (the leading proponent of re-opening the landfill) to get some cost comparisons from city staff. And on Tuesday, Wells and fellow Council member Robbie Perkins voted against further talks about the landfill.

Council members will hear next Tuesday from a firm that says it can use new technology to better manage the landfill. It's a very tentative step toward a larger discussion the City Council would be wise to have. Consider:

l Money's tight. The city could save roughly $3 million a year by dumping its trash in the White Street landfill instead of hauling it to Montgomery County.

Because the weak economy has made it harder for the city to balance its budget, City Council should at least look into something that has the potential to save significant dollars.

l It's a bargaining chip. Any private landfill operator knows it has the city over the proverbial barrel: What else is the city going to do with its trash? Any possibility that the city might dispose once again of its own trash will give Greensboro some financial leverage the next time the garbage contract comes up for renewal.

l Technology evolves. Recent advances in waste disposal might make it possible to reduce the smell and noise that generated so many complaints over the years.

This is all a long way from saying the city should reopen the landfill. That is a whole separate issue, one that needs a lot more deliberation. And there might be one or more compelling reasons for keeping it closed permanently.

For instance, it might turn out that the savings are not all that great. Or the city might not be able to afford to buy out the homes closest to the landfill. Or the city does not want to put all that truck traffic back on White Street.

Or the latest improvements in waste disposal technology might not be able to get rid of the smell, the birds and the rats. It is garbage, after all.

But just because the landfill is closed does not mean the topic should remain closed, too.