SNOW HILL – The Worcester County Commissioners agreed this week to adjustments to tipping fees.
The commissioners voted 6-1 on Tuesday to increase the county’s solid waste tipping fee from $75 a ton to $80 a ton. Public Works Director Dallas Baker said the change was meant to streamline operations.
“The haulers are interested in trying to get in and out of the landfill as quickly as possible,” Baker said. “We’re trying to accommodate that request.”
Baker presented the proposed change at a public hearing hosted by the commissioners this week. While no one commented on the amendment to the solid waste operating budget, Baker explained the reasoning behind it.
He said that while the rate was currently $75 a ton, there were varying rates for different materials. There was a rate for refuse as well as other rates for construction materials. Staff have to verify how much of a load is refuse and how much is another material when they charge haulers.
Baker said increasing the fee to $80 would make most of the rates the same, so less tracking and verification would be needed.
“The $80 will make it consistent for 90% of the material that’s dumped on top of the landfill,” he said.
Along with the change in the tipping fee, Baker said he was also proposing a $20 fee for each paint or petroleum can that wound up on top of the landfill. He said in recent months the county had seen an increase in the number of paint cans on the hill. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) doesn’t allow those items there.
“They are not allowed to be up there,” Baker said. “We have to take them off and haul them away, similar to what we do for tires, so we’re hoping to try to discourage that behavior by instituting a cost to remove those cans by solid waste personnel.”
Baker said both of the changes would go into effect Jan. 1 if approved by the commissioners.
Commissioner Eric Fiori asked if the county would maintain a dumpster or suitable site for people to get rid of paint cans. Baker said there would be a location where paint cans could be deposited.
Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said he agreed with the increase in tipping fees but did not support the new charge related to paint cans.
“I think what’s going to happen is that these contractors are going to start taking their paint cans and putting them in municipal trash cans,” he said. “They’re going to end up in the landfill either way.”
He added that he understood there was an additional fee for tires that ended up on the hill, as they were more difficult to remove.
“Paint cans are a lot smaller,” Mitrecic said. “No disrespect to those guys on the hill because they do a great job but I don’t really see them jumping out and picking up paint cans.”
Commissioner Ted Elder asked why citizens were being charged $20 whether they dumped a paint can on the hill or disposed of it in the proper place. Baker said that wasn’t the case.
“If they bring them down and put in the proper place we’re not going to charge them,” he said, adding that if a resident inadvertently dumped a can on the hill they could pick it up and bring it back down once they noticed it. He said the issue the county had was with commercial haulers bringing in paint cans.
“We’ve been having commercial haulers bring in 20 and 40 yard bins half filled with paint cans and dumping them large scale,” Baker said.
He said often haulers had it in their agreements with customers that paint cans weren’t to be discarded in bins. The entities that rent the bins don’t always follow those rules, however. He said in some cases contractors put paint cans in the dumpsters and then covered it with appropriate debris to hide the fact.
“What the haulers aren’t doing, they’re not looking into those dumpsters to see is there stuff in there that’s being dumped illegally,” Baker said.
Recently his staff spent an hour picking up paint cans that had been dumped illegally.
“If MDE sees us putting those on the hill we’re going to get fined for it,” he said.
He stressed that anyone disposing of paint cans simply needed to let staff know so they could be dropped in the right location rather than on the landfill.
Mitrecic said he still felt there were better options than the additional $20 charge.
“I think educating the contractors moving forward would be a better way to go,” he said.
Commissioner Eric Fiori asked how Baker’s department would be sharing news of the changes.
“We know who our large haulers are,” Baker said.
He said letters would be sent to those haulers and the information would also be placed on social media, the county’s website and could also be added to signage at the landfill so that the public would be aware of the change.
He added that the change would not go into effect immediately.
“That’s why we’re saying Jan. 1,” he said. “It’s not starting right now. We’ve got two months.”
The commissioners voted 6-1, with Mitrecic opposed, to approve the tipping fee increase and the new paint can charge.
