The garbage dilemma

  • Robert Behre
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  • Posted: Saturday, May 30, 2009 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Thursday, March 22, 2012 8:03 p.m.
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Garbage trucks wait in a queue to unload Friday at Montenay's incinerator off Spruill Avenue in North Charleston. Since Charleston County Council voted to end negotiations with Montenay, questions have arisen about future disposal of garbage that now is b
Wade Spees /The Post and CourierGarbage trucks wait in a queue to unload Friday at Montenay's incinerator off Spruill Avenue in North Charleston. Since Charleston County Council voted to end negotiations with Montenay, questions have arisen about future disposal of garbage that now is b

Thursday's surprise decision by Charleston County Council that could shut down the garbage incinerator in the Neck Area raises questions that may not be answered for weeks, maybe even months.

But council members are confident they can find new waste disposal solutions that won't raise the county's overall cost — and that garbage is not just a liability, but a commodity.

Council members voted 8-0 Thursday to stop negotiating with Montenay, the company that runs the North Charleston incinerator, and they also directed staff to increase recycling and to pursue deals with other companies that could handle waste.

But any such deals are a long way from being signed, and until they are, the following questions will be waiting at the curb:

--Will Charleston County now send all its trash to the Bees Ferry Landfill, or ship some of it to landfills in nearby counties?

--Will the county develop new transfer stations where municipal garbage trucks can dump their contents into a compactor that, in turn, will load up a larger truck?

--Can a more ambitious recycling effort make enough of a dent in the county's waste stream to ease concerns about increased traffic, odors and height at the Bees Ferry site?

--What will happen to the existing incinerator off Spruill Avenue in North Charleston?

--And how will the ultimate decision affect the $99 per home, annual fee that the county charges to handle solid waste?

Councilwoman Colleen Condon said interested businesses have been knocking frequently on the county's door as the county's contract with Montenay was winding down.

"We were convinced the answer certainly wasn't just burning, so it made sense to let Montenay know that," she said. "Likewise, I feel equally confident the answer is not going to be just dumping."

The decision, which comes up for a final County Council vote Tuesday, caught some by surprise, including incinerator manager Lee Bazzle.

"We thought we had some more time and that there would be more honest and up-front negotiations with us, but that's not the case," he said. "I wish I had a clearer understanding of exactly what options they're exploring. I don't know what the county's objectives are right now."

Bazzle said Montenay offered to take the county's garbage for $35.50 a ton, which he described as a very competitive price, but Condon said the county has heard from others willing to do it for less.

"We had enough firm offers that showed us there were multiple solutions we could look at this year," she said. "Because of negotiations that are ongoing, it doesn't make sense to give out the details."

Complicating the negotiations, Montenay leases the incinerator building from AT&T, but it's located on county land. Montenay has an option to buy the incinerator, but it won't without a long-term contract for its use. If the incinerator closes, the county could ask the site to be cleared.

County Councilman Victor Rawl, who missed Thursday's vote, said both he and his constituents are concerned about the additional truck traffic and odors in and around the Bees Ferry Landfill.

Simply diverting the garbage from the incinerator to Bees Ferry would cause it to fill up sooner, Rawl said, "and that would leave us with Mount Bees Ferry and no solution."

But Condon said, "The answer is not going to be that Bees Ferry is our solution. It's going to be part of our solution, and in the short term, there could be a couple more trucks" headed there.

She also said the ultimate solutions should not increase the cost to county residents. "I think we're going to be able to offer better service for $99, or even better service at a lower price," she said.

The county's decision also will affect local municipalities and others who collect trash.

Mount Pleasant Town Administrator Mac Burdette said the town would not see significantly more expense driving to Bees Ferry rather than the Montenay site, partly because Interstate 526 provides an express route.

"We're well convinced that the cost of having to go to Bees Ferry every day is going to be a negligible increase in cost to us," he said, largely because waits at the Montenay incinerator can last an hour or more. "Had this been a $150,000 issue for us, then we might have felt compelled to go to the mat on this thing."

However, if the county started sending waste to more distant landfills, that would change. "At that point, we're going to be talking to the county about a waste transfer system," Burdette said. "If we're told we have to go to Berkeley or Dorchester or someplace, then we'll stand up and be counted."

Sending garbage up Interstate 26 to landfills in neighboring counties also would be expected to turn up the political heat there. In March, Dorchester County Council agreed to write to Charleston County, saying Dorchester doesn't want to be the region's trash dump.

The county's Oak Ridge landfill, in the Dorchester community off U.S. Highway 78, is run by Waste Management. A company official did not return a message left Friday afternoon.