Marion County Council discusses Saturday closing of landfill

Ron Gilkerson, representing Griffin Brothers, addressed the Marion County Council, giving them an update regarding the county’s landfill on Red Bluff Road and requesting that council allow the landfill to eliminate, at least for a while, its half-day Saturday schedule.

Regarding landfill operations, Gilkerson said, the economic times, which have drastically slowed construction in Horry County, have affected the landfill business. At the end of October, he explained, it was the company’s last operating date of its Myrtle Beach recycling center. That facility was closed.

“We were taking in construction and demolition materials, recycling about 75 percent of that, with the rest coming to the Marion County landfill,” Gilkerson said. That has dropped a significant amount and the waste from Myrtle Beach recycled and transported by the company, at one time, was between 200-300 tons per day, he said.

“Just prior to closing, we were getting 50 tons a day. We needed that feeding mechanism to make a profit at the landfill,” he continued. There was basically, he said, a 60 percent drop in landfill usage and it is doing a little more than 1,000 tons per month.

Gilkerson said he believes the next couple of years will be lean ones. “We’re prepared to stay, as we’re obligated to …” Griffin Brothers and the county have been negotiating a new landfill operation contract since February.

With respect to new regulations from DHEC, Gilkerson said, there is a need for more frequent cover (dirt) to go on the construction and debris. Also, DHEC has instituted a “close as you go,” policy, which means when a portion of the landfill reaches “close elevation,” an additional two and a half feet of cover has to be placed on the slope.

“This is a bigger burden …” Gilkerson said, adding we will “tackle this in phases.” Gilkerson said as far as landfill inspections go, the Marion County site has “an unblemished record.”
“It’s a clean operation. We have a very good manager out there, good staff, good equipment operator…”

Currently, in addition to its 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday hours, the site is open for limbs and debris from 7 a.m. until noon on Saturdays, to accommodate residents. Gilkerson said the site is not even getting one load on Saturdays and that there was “no sense in us being open.”

He asked council to allow the site to close on Saturdays and reopen the Saturday hours in the spring when more residents would be making yard improvements.

Council’s Vice Chairman Elista Smith, leading the meeting in the absence of County Council Chairman John Q. Atkinson, asked what residents are doing with their leaves and yard waste if they are not carrying their debris to the dump. “We can’t burn it … if it’s not coming out there, what is happening with the leaves?”

Most council members said they are uncomfortable closing the landfill on Saturday for fear of complaints. They asked Gilkerson to consider closing early another day or changing the week day hours. One additional item the landfill has to accommodate is DHEC’s requirement to have a permanent monitoring well on site for ground water testing. Gilkerson said Griffin Brothers is getting ready to put that in the first of next year.

A third party, with sample results available to state and county officials will monitor the well. The well is likely to cost $75,000-$100,000 to install, he said. The Marion County landfill, Gilkerson said, is not receiving direct hauls from Horry County at this time. Direct hauls of waste, he said, most likely is going to the landfill operated near Little Pee Dee River on U.S. Highway 378 facility or to the Horry County site.

Under the Interstate Commerce Act, Gilkerson said, if a direct haul shows up, “We will accept it … But this is a construction and demolition site …”