A lot has been said throughout the county recently about the new fee at the Wayne County Solid Waste Facility for dumping brush and/or construction debris. The Wayne County Commission voted to begin in September charging a fee of $72.21 per ton to accept any of those materials from either individual citizens or commercial waste haulers.
County Executive Jim Mangubat stated that the fee became necessary following the closure of the Decatur County landfill, where Wayne County had taken their garbage for the last several years. Following the closure of that landfill, Wayne County was forced to seek other landfills to take garbage to, and have been hauling it twice as far as they had to before.
Another issue, said Mangubat, is the age of the equipment at the Solid Waste Facility. A lot of the equipment is old, and repairs are very costly. He said that brush and construction debris have the potential of damaging the equipment, therefore leading to costly repairs or replacement.
County Executive Mangubat went on to point out that almost all surrounding and nearby counties charge their customers considerably more in fees, and some refuse to accept construction materials and brush altogether.
Although the fee for dumping these materials at the facility is costly to many, citizens are strongly urged not to dump any garbage anywhere outside of designated locations. The couch pictured above was reportedly dumped near the entrance to the Solid Waste Facility in an effort to avoid the fee.
Dumping any garbage anywhere in the county that is not designated is not only an eyesore, but it is also potentially hazardous in other ways such as health and possible roadway obstruction. The County Commission and local City Commissions are all aware of the problem throughout the county, and are reportedly working together to come up with a better solution.
