Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) meet December 3 where SWA Chairman Dave Henderson announced that he has talked to their engineering firm, directing them to stop engineering work for building the SWA’s transfer station at the landfill.
This is seen as definitive confirmation that they are now firmly committed to not building their own transfer station but instead using the future transfer station Allegheny Disposal LLC will be building near Green Bank. However, concerns remain about whether Allegheny Disposal will have enough time to obtain the necessary permits, and to have their station built and operational before the landfill closure.
They had originally submitted a Solid Waste Facility Siting Plan and a Litter and Solid Waste Control Plan which were based on building their own transfer station at the landfill. They now have to replace those with new plans.
They were still required to hold the public hearings on the original plans and did so at the beginning of this meeting.
Four members of the Green Bank Sustainability Working Group spoke out at that public hearing. They told the SWA members that they need to offer a lot more recycling options for cardboard, white goods, electronics and tires, all of which are no longer accepted at the five green box sites. They said this greatly reduces the amount of recycling because it is inconvenient for the public to take those items to the landfill site. They also said that increased recycling would eliminate a substantial amount of trash from being disposed in the landfill, which could prolong the life of the current landfill for a bit, and when the transfer station is operational, increased recycling will save substantial on tipping fee costs, especially if county residents increase their recycling from the current 3.6% to the national average of 25%.
During the regular meeting, Jacob Meck of Allegheny Disposal said the cost problem is not the result of having too much trash, since the costs of building and operating a transfer station, buying and maintain equipment and vehicles, hauling the trash and of the labor are all fixed costs no matter how much trash is handled. He said it costs just as much to collect and haul half the amount of trash, since the transfer station; equipment; and the transportation vehicles are already going to be minimum-sized, and those are the primary expenses, not tipping fees.
Additionally at the meeting, during a report of the financial statement, SWA office administrator Mary Clendenen told the members that the SWA currently has $488,467 available in unrestricted funds, and they are on target this year.
They have scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday, December 17, at 6 p.m. in the courthouse, where they will further discuss the Future Solid Waste Plan; update the Application for a Certificate of Site Approval with Allegheny Disposal, LLC; and revise the Commercial Solid Waste Facility Siting Plan; and the Comprehensive Litter and Solid Waste Control Plan Update Schedules.
