week of 11/13/02
 
 
 
  Waste pact wasting $1 million annually
By Scott McLeod

One million dollars a year.

That’s how much Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland estimates residents could save in tax money if the county’s solid waste is shipped to a landfill in South Carolina.

To do that, however, a signed contract with Macon County guaranteeing that Jackson will ship its waste to a jointly-constructed landfill near Franklin for the next 20 years would have to be dissolved or altered. Getting out of the contract, though, might not be that difficult — if both parties agree.

“It’s a flawed agreement,” said Macon County Manager Sam Greenwood. “It is outmoded by time and events.”

The momentum to change the way the two counties deal with solid waste appears to be gaining steam. Taxpayers in both counties spent millions to construct the landfill near Franklin that was opened in 1996, both help pay pro rata operating costs and both counties are responsible for closure and post-closure costs.

However, the emergence of huge landfills built to EPA standards on mostly clay soils in flat areas nearby has changed the solid waste disposal realities for mountain towns. Those large landfills need product — solid waste — and because of economies of scale, they are able to dispose of it cheaper.

Jackson pays Macon $51 per ton for the solid waste it sends over Cowee Mountain to the jointly-operated landfill. Westmoreland says the Palmetto waste facility near Spartanburg charges $20 to $30 per ton. This year, Jackson County has allocated approximately $2.3 million for solid waste and Macon will spend about $3.5 million.

The fact that both county managers see savings for taxpayers could lead commissioners to dissolve the current agreement.

“Myself, two commissioners and our solid waste supervisor have been looking at this for about seven months,” said Greenwood. “

“We’ve been evaluating the pluses and minuses. Once our new board is elected, it will be time to look at dissolving or altering the agreement,” Greenwood said a few days before last week’s election.

At a meeting of the Jackson County Solid Waste Advisory Board two weeks ago, Westmoreland said commissioners in both counties need to understand that it would be in their “best interest” to get out of the current arrangement. He pointed out that using the commercial landfill space now might save the mountain counties landfill space that eventually would be more expensive.

“Why consume that landfill space now when we can go elsewhere at half the price,” he told the advisory board members.

John Thornton of Altamont Environmental in Asheville is a consultant for both counties on solid waste issues.

“Simply from a standpoint of budgetary perspectives for both counties, they’d be better off ending their agreement,” according to Thornton.

The agreement calls for Jackson to site a landfill or take advantage of “other technologies” once Macon’s is full, but Westmoreland and others said it is doubtful a landfill will ever be built in Jackson County.

One reason conversations between the two counties about the feasibility of shipping trash elsewhere has not occurred is because one of the stipulations in the agreement has not taken place. The contract calls for two annual meetings to discuss solid waste issues. There has bee no meeting in about two years.

Maurice Moody, chairman of Jackson’s Solid Waste Advisory Board, said his group could help by trying to keep the issue on the table.

“I’ve never heard anyone in Jackson County say that this was a good deal,” said Moody.

The contract calls for Jackson County to build a landfill — or make use of other technologies — once Macon”s is full. This means that Jackson, in order to get out of the agreement, could host a transfer station for both counties.