Private haulers taking business from public landfills

Published 12:04 am Sunday, April 2, 2006

With spring finally in the air, many Whitfield County residents are out tending to their gardens, and that may mean putting out some mulch.

And as many county residents know, the Dalton-Whitfield Regional Solid Waste Management Authority provides mulch — made from discarded trees — for free at its headquarters on the Old Dixie Highway, as well as at its transfer stations on McGaughey Chapel Road, Landfill Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

But regular users may have noticed something a bit different so far this year. In past years, the landfill has loaded the mulch for customers for $5 for a bulldozer bucket, from March to October. Customers have had to load their own mulch so far this year.

Norman Barashick, the authority’s executive director, says the landfill will probably start loading for customers some time this month. But the landfill will probably only offer the service through June or July, and the price it will charge hasn’t been determined.

“There still won’t be any charge for the mulch. Only a charge for loading,” Barashick said.

It’s all part of a larger effort by the landfill authority to review the services it offers and the prices it charges for those services. The goal is to make sure all its operations are making money.

While set up by the city of Dalton and Whitfield County, the landfill authority is independent, and it is funded through fees on the services it offers. The only city and county funding it receives is when those governments use its services, and they are charged just like any other individual or organization, said Barashick.

The problem, he says, is that landfill revenues are expected to fall this year. In 2005, the landfill brought in $6 million in revenue. This year, the authority projects it will bring in approximately $4 million, an amount Barashick says is close to break even.

“We must not only fund the operations of the landfill through those fees but also put aside money to eventually close this landfill and open a new one when this one is filled,” he said.

Barashick says part of the problem is increasing consolidation in the private waste-hauling business, with private haulers taking waste to landfills that they either own outright or manage on behalf of other local governments.

“That is diverting waste away from our landfill,” said landfill operations manager Harvey Levitt.

Cheryl Dunson, executive vice president for marketing at Cleveland, Tenn.’s San-Tech Environmental, confirms that company takes waste collected by its subsidiaries in Northwest Georgia to landfills it manages in Murray and Gordon counties and to the Catoosa County transfer station. San-Tech owns Waste Services and North Georgia Disposal in Dalton.

The Dalton-Whitfield landfill has hired consultants to examine all of its services and fees. Officials expect to receive a report within the next 60 days. They say they are determined to do what is needed to compete in the marketplace. But they’ve also informed members of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners and the Dalton City Council they may want to consider laws requiring commercial waste haulers to take waste generated within the county to the landfill.

“The question is ‘Who does that waste belong to?’” said Levitt.

Landfill officials contend it belongs to the county. Private haulers disagree.

“Our position is that the waste on our trucks belongs to us,” said Dunson.

Board of Commissioners member Mike Cowan, who also serves on the landfill authority board, says it’s still a bit early for commissioners to consider any new laws regarding where waste should be taken.

“Right now, things are still solid (at the landfill). That option is certainly there, but it may not be necessary,” he said.

Commission chairman Brian Anderson, who also serves on the landfill authority board, agrees.

“We need to get all of the facts together before we do anything,” he said.

But Anderson says he’s willing to ask the board to consider any laws necessary to maintain the landfill. Anderson says he has already asked county attorney Robert Smalley to see what authority the county commission has over waste generated within the county.

“The taxpayers created the landfill, and we have an obligation to do all we can to make it work,” he said.

That position was echoed by Dalton Mayor Ray Elrod, a landfill board member.

“We’ll do what we need to do,” he said.

But Elrod agrees with Cowan and Anderson that its too soon to say what action, if any, is needed from local governments.