Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

"Bagman" Video Almost Ready To Air

A video depicting the life of a bag of garbage is almost ready to be shown on television.

This was the message Bob Venutti had for the Southwest Regional Solid Waste Management District, at its meeting Wednesday, July 19.

The district commissioned the creating of a cartoon character, "Bagman", to help show people what happens to garbage once it leaves their home, along with the costs involved in burying it in a landfill.

The video shows "Bagman" being placed at the curb for pickup, being taken to a transfer station, then on to the landfill. Interspersed with the cartoon character are actual scenes of work in a landfill.

"Bagman" told the viewers it costs 57 cents a bag to take it to the transfer station, then goes to the landfill, where it's 32 cents a bag to operate it, another 10 cents to weigh each bag, then 40 cents for a ticket to be buried. In actuality, each bag is not weighed separately. The trucks are weighed on a scale when they drive in, and again when they unload.

"Mr. Recycle", a minor character in the video, "Bagman" said, gets in the landfill free because the items in him can be used again once they are recycled.

The viewers are told it costs $7 million to get a landfill ready.

They are also told the buried garbage sits underground and rots for about 20 years. During this time, Environmental Protection Agency regulations require the landfill be monitored for methane gas. This means gas meters are placed in various locations throughout the landfill.

Plans are to have copies made of the video so it will relate to all of the communities within the three-county district. These counties are: Clark, Garland and Hot Spring.

Once the final editing has been done, copies of the tape will be distributed to all schools in the district for students in grades 2-4. Copies will also be available for civic groups to show during their meetings.

In addition, the district is having coloring sheets of "Bagman" made up to distribute to children.

The video campaign will be done in combination with a newspaper advertising campaign to start sometime in September, when school is back in session.

The coloring sheets will have "Bagman" on one side and information on recycling on the other.

Venutti said the tapes aren't being copyrighted and the district will allow them to be dubbed if anyone wants to.

The meeting turned to a discussion on the status of developing a class I landfill in the district, with the board of directors being told nothing new is going on.

The district is still in the process of getting the land in question, near Gurdon, permitted, and scheduling public meetings on it.

The board also exercised its option with BFI landfill in Little Rock, adding two more years to its contract.

Under the original agreement, the district signed a three-year deal with two one-year extensions. The three year contract would have ended Sept. 30, 2001, had the extensions not been signed. Now, the district has a contract with BFI until Sept. 30, 2003, at the same rate.

There was some discussion about the flow rate of garbage going into the landfill, with a study to be done to find out.

Bill Burroughs, with BFI, said the idea is to find out how much garbage is coming into Pulaski County from other districts, not to raise the rates at a later date.

Two of the three landfills in Pulaski County are privately owned, while the other is owned by the county.

The results of the flow study will help determine the life span of the landfill, he said.