Duplin towns ask commissioners to pass along contract savings
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on June 17, 2005 1:45 PM
KENANSVILLE -- Duplin County commissioners are considering changing the way the county charges for the disposal of solid waste.
Several towns in the southern part of the county asked commissioners in May to pass on to them savings from in a long-term contract with Waste Industries. Wallace Town Manager Ken Kornatzer and Rose Hill Town Administrator Tom Drum told commissioners their towns should receive special consideration because of the volume of trash they deliver to the transfer station.
Solid Waste Director Bee Barnette told commissioners this month he wants to be fair to all the towns in the county. He said he wants to treat them all the same.
"To me a little town is just as important as a big town," Barnette said.
Wallace, Rose Hill and Calypso are the only towns that use the transfer station now, but Barnette said he hopes more towns will use it under a new system he is proposing.
Barnette said he expects commissioners to take action on his proposal some time after the budget is adopted. It's not a change that would come quickly, he pointed out. He said he would spend the next six months explaining the changes he wants to make to residents of all of the county's 10 towns.
"We believe it will save people time and money if they can take a refrigerator to the nearest convenience site rather than to the transfer station," Barnette said.
Some of the changes would include dropping the tipping fee at the transfer station from $40 per ton to $37.50 per ton. Households would pay $85 a year rather than the current $90 a year. People in the towns, who were not supposed to use the convenience sites before, would be encouraged to bring their trash and recyclable items to them.
"We're hoping this will improve our recycling efforts, too," Barnette said. Some towns are not recycling at all, he said, and some are recycling some materials.