Council votes to hire solid waste consultants

The Charleston County Council took a big step Tuesday toward developing a plan on how it will handle its trash for the next 20 years to 30 years.

The group voted to hire Kessler Consulting, a waste management consulting company based in Tampa, Fla., to work with a citizens committee to conduct research and develop the long-term plan.

The company will be paid about $297,000 to work for about a year on the plan, Council Chairman Tim Scott said.

The council also named a 15-member "Green Ribbon Committee." Councilwoman Colleen Condon, who researched and proposed the committee's makeup, said about 70 people applied for a spot on the panel.

The consultant and committee will have to deal with hot-button issues such as whether to sign another contract for the trash-burning incinerator off Spruill Avenue in North Charleston.

Now, 70 percent of the county's household waste is burned. People in the neighborhoods surrounding the incinerator say they suffer health problems from polluted air. The facility was supposed to close in 2010, after operating for 20 years. But the county is considering signing another 20-year contract with the company that runs the facility.

If the incinerator is closed and all trash is taken to the county's Bees Ferry Landfill, the landfill would be full by 2024. If the county continues to burn 70 percent of household waste, the landfill will last until 2030, county officials have said.

Charleston County spends about $40 million to dispose of solid waste, Condon has said, so the county needs a well-researched, long-term plan.

GREEN COMMITTEE

Charleston County Council on Tuesday approved the following people to serve on a "Green Ribbon Committee" that will help decide how the county handles its solid waste in the future:

-- David Crutchfield, energy management experience.

-- Scott Fennell, transportation of solid waste experience.

--Sue Schweikart, solid waste management experience.

-- Alec Cooley, professional recycling experience.

-- Jeffrey Baxter, real estate development experience.

-- Art von Lehe, environmental science experience.

-- Louis Mintz, represents the Bees Ferry corridor.

-- Rahim Karriem, lives within one-half mile of the trash incinerator.

-- Linda Tucker, a government representative of a small municipality east of the Cooper River.

-- Carl Voelker, a government representative of a small municipality west of the Ashley River.

-- Herb Fraser-Rahim and John Votaw, two at-large representatives of the community.

-- Laura Cabiness of Charleston, Jody Peele of Mount Pleasant and Renee Patey of North Charleston, members appointed by each municipality.

For more information on committee members or the process for selecting them, call Cathy Ruff at 202-7204.

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.