Solid Waste Committee Holds Workshop, No Progress Made

The Wayne County Solid Waste Committee met for a workshop session on Monday, April 7, 2025. Unfortunately, no decisions were made and little progress noticed regarding the county’s current solid waste situation.

The workshop session was held in the packed Berry-Brewer Meeting Room at the Wayne County Administrative Building. Along with committee members, employees of RaeKar, employees of the solid waste facility, and other concerned citizens attended a meeting that had once held the promise of progress.

As most are aware, solid waste in Wayne County has been a hot topic for quite some time now. The Wayne County Solid Waste Department has reportedly been operating at a loss, and the Solid Waste Committee was tasked with finding a way to make the department self-sustaining.

County Commissioner Alvin Creecy took on the assignment of finding out how other nearby counties operated their solid waste departments, and came back to the commission after a year of gathering information with possibilities for bringing in more money into the Solid Waste Department. Bringing in more money was the mission of both the committee and the commission, so Commissioner Creecy followed that direction and came back with ways to make changes to how customers dispose of their solid waste. These ideas included the possibility of customers paying a fee based on the weight of their garbage, purchasing a special tag for each bag of garbage, or paying a yearly $100 fee to dispose of all (accepted) garbage. Commissioner Creecy’s proposals have not been ruled out at this point as a way to raise revenue for solid waste.

A valid concern for city utility customers in Waynesboro, Collinwood, and Clifton is that each city includes a garbage disposal fee in customers’ utility bills. City customers must pay the total utility bill, which includes water, sewer, and garbage, even if they do not use the garbage pickup.

RaeKar, Inc. is the local solid waste company that is contracted with each city in the county to haul customers’ garbage to the solid waste facility in Waynesboro. It should be noted that the facility in Waynesboro is only a transfer station used for processing solid waste. After processing at the facility, solid waste is then hauled to a landfill in another county.

Former Wayne County Commissioner John McDonald suggested the Solid Waste Workshop be held, and was allowed to speak first at the workshop, sharing his thoughts about the solid waste situation. Mr. McDonald primarily believes that there are ways to cut back the solid waste budget, and encouraged the committee to look for ways to do that.

The subject of mobile convenience centers in Wayne County was discussed at great length. Wayne County Solid Waste Director Robert Hayes confirmed that there are currently fifteen mobile convenience centers in the county which are stationed at different locations around the county for a few hours on weekdays. Most of the trucks are stationed at one location in the morning and another in the afternoon. The discussion revolved around the true necessity of all fifteen of the trucks. Many shared the opinion that the trucks are especially necessary for those who live in more remote areas of the county, as well as some just being a convenience for those who do not get their garbage picked up and don’t want the inconvenience of having to go to the solid waste facility.

Other opinions on the mobile convenience centers were shared, including the question of how much money could be saved by eliminating some of the trucks. There was no answer to that question, and no decisions were made.

Another topic discussed at the workshop was recycling. Some strongly believe that recycling in Wayne County is profitable for the Solid Waste Department, citing the Recycler of the Year award given to the Solid Waste Department in 2022. Others argued that the numbers for recycling in Wayne County just don’t add up, and that when operating costs of sorting and processing recyclables are figured into the equation, recycling actually causes the department to lose money rather than make it.

One point mentioned during the meeting was that no commercial haulers, including RaeKar, are charged a tipping fee for dumping garbage at the solid waste facility. This essentially puts the burden of paying for the processing of the garbage back on taxpayers. Property taxes in Wayne County were raised to give additional funds to the Solid Waste Department, but at this time, no one seems to be able to provide clear evidence of where the extra funds are being applied in the county budget. If not added to the Solid Waste Department’s budget, where is the money going?

Another possible way to raise money for the Solid Waste Department was initially proposed by Waynesboro City Manager John Hickman at a meeting of the Wayne County Commission. Mr. Hickman stated that rather than another property tax increase, the county should consider an add-on to the current wheel tax. He believes that this would be a more fair way of taxing county residents, based on the premise that almost everyone in the county who produces household garbage owns one or more Wayne County-tagged vehicles. County Commissioner Logan Shull voiced his opinion that if this add-on to the wheel tax were to take place, there should be a limit of two vehicles in any household to which the add-on would apply.

At one point during the workshop, employee representatives of RaeKar were asked by the committee if RaeKar would be willing to take on the role of running the Wayne County Solid Waste Department privately, operating it the way they would any other business. This seemed to catch the RaeKar representatives by surprise, as well as others in the audience. Tommy Legins, Vice President of Operations at RaeKar, said that his initial reaction would be to answer no to that question, but he could not make any decision like that on behalf of the company on such short notice.

Others asked why the county could not run the Solid Waste Department as a business aimed toward at least breaking even in the budget, if not making a profit. Many are convinced that this can be done, but unfortunately, after some raised voices and lots of unanswered questions, the workshop meeting ended in another stalemate.

The Wayne County Solid Waste Committee will meet again on Thursday, April 17, 2025, at the Administrative Building (old courthouse) on the square in Waynesboro. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.