By Paul Gable
The Horry County Council Infrastructure and Regulation Committee will consider an amendment to the county’s solid waste flow control ordinance at its meeting Thursday.
According to a source familiar with the change, the amendment will remove the requirement for construction and demolition debris to be disposed at the Horry County Solid Waste Authority landfill on Highway 90.
If the amendment is favorably reported out of committee to full council, which is expected, a three reading ordinance amendment will have to pass county council to make the change official.
The proposed amendment will not affect the requirement to dispose municipal solid waste (wet garbage) at the Hwy 90 landfill.
The county’s flow control ordinance, passed in early 2009, currently requires all solid waste generated in the county to be disposed at the HCSWA landfill. When it was passed, the ordinance established a county government monopoly over solid waste disposal to the detriment of small, private C&D haulers and county citizens.
While various bogus reasons for the need for flow control were given in early 2009, none of them were accurate. The real reason for flow control was to punish several small, local C&D haulers who had the temerity to take C&D waste to landfills outside the county where they could dispose the waste they hauled at lower prices (tipping fees) than those charged at the HCSWA landfill.
As a result of the flow control ordinance, at least one of these private haulers was driven out of business while the others were hurt financially resulting in lost jobs for county citizens.
This proposed amendment will begin to right those wrongs as well as demonstrating that the current county council is willing to address bad decisions made in the past and make changes where necessary.
Speak Up…