Currently in the process of closing a cell at the Carroll-Grayson-Galax Regional Landfill, the Carroll-Grayson-Galax Solid Waste Authority has announced the Hillsville dump site will be good for at least another 40 years.

Sam Dickson, former member of the Carroll County Board of Supervisors and a current member of the Carroll-Grayson-Galax Solid Waste Authority (SWA), told the news to the Carroll County Board of Supervisors during its Feb. 14 meeting. Dickson said the SWA is made up of three members each from Galax, Grayson County and Carroll County. Representing Carroll County are Dickson, supervisor Rex Hill, who serves as Vice Chair of the SWA, and Carroll County Administrator Mike Watson.

“I have all good news for you. This is a great thing. The Carroll-Galax-Grayson Solid Waste was started in 1993 with these three localities,” Dickson said. “It has been a big success and we have used it all over the state as a way for communities to work together regionally to get good things done. They have used us an an example. We are in the process of closing a cell now and the first thing people is going to ask you is how long is that dump going to be there? Any of you have any idea?”

Chairman Tracy Moore was the only person willing to venture a guess, saying he thought the landfill would last 30 more years in Hillsville.

“It is good for at least 40 more years and then we will go to Grayson County. We are closing a cell now. It will probably be used for the next three years,” Dickson said. “And it is a cost of well over $2 million. Everything that Solid Waste does we pay for in advance. We try not to have any debt.”

Dickson told the board the SWA is controlled mainly by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). He said the regional landfill can’t just dump trash somewhere and leave it. It has to be covered up and there are certain regulations that have to be met.

“There is a lot of good things we have done over there. We have had a minimum price increase since the beginning in 1993,” Dickson said. “The tipping fee has increased (one dollar) in 29 years. Twenty-nine years ago it was $43 per ton, now it is $44. Current rate for household trash is citizens bring it in, 90 gallons or less $4, for more than 90 gallons – $8.”

Of course, citizens can also sign up to have trash picked up from Waste Industries at a very reasonable price, Dickson said. As a senior, Dickson said he pays $47 every three months for the service, something he called a great bargain. The price for an entire year would be $218, he added.

“DEQ also requires a minimum of 15 percent recycling. We recycle 29 percent so we are way ahead of the game on that,” Dickson said. “We keep our rates down low because we keep late model equipment which prevents downtime and costs on repair. The landfill, you increase your life by compacting. The more you compact the trash, the more you can get in that cell, so it saves money. We found out that the machinery we were using that rolls over it, we bought bigger twine that compacts it better, so we really can increase the life of the cell by doing that. We try to stay on top of everything. We look at every way you can to save money. We knew we were going to be there for 40 more years so we built a new business office and it is a very nice structure. When that project was built, we borrowed zero money. We didn’t have to borrow a penny.”

Dickson said the SWA purchased 34 acres of adjacent property to the Hillsville landfill. A new tire and wood shredder has saved the Authority $121,000 and will pay for itself entirely in approximately 2.5 years.

As far as the landfill itself, Dickson said at closing time each day’s new trash has to be covered. The SWA purchased a tarp cover, and every day at the end of the day, the tarp is used to cover all the new trash.

“We used to cover it with wood chips, tire chips and dirt and it stayed there. The tarp comes off so they can save that much space,” Dickson said. “It is well worth what we do it for, and then we still hear, ‘Why did you buy a tire and wood shredder?” We did because edges of the property still have trash and you still have to cover that. That is what we use.”

The new cell construction Dickson mentioned earlier cost the SWA $2.3 million and is more than 90 percent completed. The cell is 4.6 acres and has a life expectancy of 4.5 years, Dickson said.

“This will give us three more (years),” Dickson said. “We are prepared for at least 40 years, maybe longer.”

The Carroll-Grayson-Galax Regional Landfill has eight full-time employees and one part-time employee. Dickson said the SWA is doing a study to make sure those employees are being paid fairly so they aren’t lost to other employers.

“Machine operators are hard to come by. Hoping we are going to be able to keep them,” Dickson said. “Alan Lawson is the manager and he extends invitations to anyone who would like to tour the landfill to contact him.”

Supervisor Jody Early said the Hillsville landfill hasn’t taken glass for recycling for some time.

“It kills me to throw glass away,” Early said.

Dickson said some of the items the landfill was collecting to recycle simply aren’t being bought by anyone anymore. Early said the local landfill also needs another way to collect plastic bags such as Walmart bags, saying the receptacles are frequently full. He also felt like it was time to move the landfill to another locality.

“I really appreciate the efforts to prolong the life of the landfill, but don’t you think 80 years of a landfill is enough? It is time for somebody else to take that,” Early said.

Dickson said the regional agreement was supposed to go next to Grayson, but the number of years Carroll would have it was way underestimated. Dickson said the SWA tries the best it can, but at the best it is a still a landfill, something nobody wants.

“Yeah, but 80 years, that is more than our fair share,” Early said.

Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on Twitter@AWorrellTCN

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