News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Waste Management officially took over the White County Landfill Monday.
Area Post Collection Manager Steven Clark said they will be spending the first month will be focused on safety. Clark said they are working diligently on corrective actions so the landfill can better support the county and its citizens.
“No big transitional changes,” Clark said. “Just focusing on safety. That means folks coming in that we’re actually weighing things in, weighing things out, making sure that they have proper PPE on, that’s the only transition.”
Clark said they have built a block transfer station in the last few days that will assist with the waste the county has been hauling elsewhere. He said they have also tarped off the class one section of the landfill to improve drainage. Specialized equipment installed to pull the leachate out of the ground.
“As far as operational update, you know, we just want to focus on just kind of the cadence of weighing everything in and out in a safe operation,” Clark said.
County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said the county will need to either move or close the convenience center located on the landfill property. Robinson said they need to find a short-term location they can use to operate the solid waste department out of until the new building is ready.
“We were wanting to move up there behind Highway 42, behind the convenience center, and that’s still planned, but we’re spending over $50,000 so we have to get an engineer or architect involved,” Robinson said. “They’re saying it’s probably going to be a year before that building’s up and operational. So we can’t stay down there a year, so we’re looking at a place. trying to find a place to ring in or to run out of that has a place for a garage that we can pull trucks in.”
Robinson said the county also needs a plan for how to take care of used tires because Waste Management will not accept tires.
“We’ve got a couple, a few steps that we’ve got to take,” Robinson said. “We’ll look at how we’re going to process used tires in the future, but for right now we just need to find a place to move them to.”
Waste Management Public Sector Representative Tom Brandon said they are already taking steps to engage with the local community.
“Even this Saturday at the Freedom Celebration we’ll be out there and it’ll be I guess our first impression, so you guys, you know, come out and see us, have your constituents come out and we’ll do our best to answer any questions,” Brandon said.
