Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Garbage Problems Abound; Costs Gurdon $6,500 A Month

By JOHN MILLER

What to do with garbage is a major problem for most cities in the nation.

Gurdon is no different.

It costs the City of Gurdon $6,500 per month to have solid waste picked up, get it compacted and taken to the Saline County landfill. At this point in time, the city is generating 60 tons of trash per month.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith, who is on the board of directors for the Southwest Central Regional Solid Waste Management District, said the district is looking hard at constructing its own landfill.

The contract with Saline County runs out in October 1998. It is a foregone conclusion the landfill will raise its tipping fees to the SWCRSWMD, especially after the district successfully sued the landfill when it tried to illegally raise the fees a couple of years ago.

At this time, the southwest district is working to find another landfill to accept its garbage, with a three year contract and two one-year options.

Additionally, the district has hired BFI Engineering of Hot Springs to do a feasibility study on a landfill for the three counties involved -- Garland, Clark and Hot Spring, to see if it will be of greater benefit to the people of the district.

A landfill, Smith said, will probably cost between $5 and $8 million to construct.

And, he said, it will be a complicated facility to operate. Should the district build a landfill, it will be owned by three counties, not a single entity. This could pose problems when financing is being arranged.

The cities involved, Smith said, will have to pool their resources in order to get the venture capital needed to construct the landfill.

Smith said the decision is expected to be made in April or May, 1998.

Should the district be able to construct a landfill, it will first have to obtain the necessary permits. This is no easy task as the Environmental Protection Agency and Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology are strict on their permitting rules and regulations.

Because of the problems involved, Smith said, recycling is important. The district decided to take all recyclable materials to the Hot Springs Recycling Center, which it owns

However, the price of recyclable materials fluxuates drastically. This makes it difficult for the center to plan an operating budget. Because of this, Smith said, the center obtained a grant from the PC&E which helps the center operate.

This means the money collected from the sale of the recyclable materials is returned to the cities they came from.

Recycling, Smith said, is important for Gurdon as it saves the city about $100 per ton of garbage kept out of the waste stream.

"A lot of cities are frustrated with recycling," Smith said, "because it's hard to see the overall benefits."

He said it is hard to "see" people recycling, which makes it difficult to get people involved. Most people, he said, need to actually see something happening before they get involved.

In talking about the future of solid waste, Smith said he can foresee a day when household garbage is weighed by the truck and people are required to pay according to its weight.

However, he said, the City of Gurdon is committed to keeping the solid waste rates as low as possible to the citizenry, and no rate increases are anticipated at this time.

Solid waste, Smith said, is a problem cities and counties will be dealing with from now on.