The Board of Commissioners agreed to alleviate the strain on the diminishing capacity of the Oglethorpe County Construction and Demolition Landfill in its monthly meeting on Monday.
The BOC approved raising the cost of larger loads and restricting use to county residents and commercial entities that operate within the county.
The tipping rate will stay at $40 per ton with a minimum of $10 to dump. In addition, the commission ruled that loads over two tons will be deemed commercial and charged at a rate of $60 per ton. Loads are weighed upon entering the facility.
The restrictions will be effective Oct. 16. New signage will be posted at the landfill.
Proof of residence or operation within the county will be required for entry into the landfill. Previously, businesses and people from surrounding counties were able to use the landfill.
Before these measures were put in place, the landfill was projected to run out of space by next April. The restrictions aim to expand the lifespan of the landfill.
Meanwhile, the county is in the long process of expanding the landfill.
“The wheels of state government turn slowly,” Commission Chair Jay Paul said. “Even though (the proposed expansion area) is sitting right beside the existing landfill, you’d think, well, no problem. I talked with a higher up hoping it would get expedited. It’s not going to be expedited.”
Public Works Director Adam Nation said that most of the increase in dumping has come from projects outside the county, such as a recent power line project by Georgia Power.
“Our average from Oglethorpe residents stays about the same,” Nation said. “It’s Oconee County or Clarke County where most of it comes from.”
Historically, the landfill received around 90 tons of trash per day, but recently, that total has surpassed 100 tons a day. Some days, over 400 tons have been dumped, Nation said.
There was discussion over whether the lost revenue from restricting dumping to Oglethorpe County waste would be too costly, but District 1 Commissioner Howard Sanders said the point could be moot.
“If we’re shut down at the end of April next year, then there isn’t going to be any revenue,” he said. “The revenue part doesn’t really come into play here. We’ve got to do something about this, and we’ve got to do it quick.”
The expansion is what Paul and Nation referred to as a 30-year plan for the county’s landfill. Nation said the expansion could be over a million cubic yards when completed.
The county has been in the process for two years.
Approval for more landfill space from the state, Paul said, includes site suitability tests to make sure natural bodies of water are not disturbed from the expansion. He said despite the drawn-out nature of the process, he expects approval to come eventually.
“We're fortunate where we are, in my opinion,” Paul said. “We're in as good a spot as we can be for landfill expansion, but it still is going to take a minute to get it done.”