GREENSBORO — There’s some serious trash-talking going on in Greensboro.
For the second time in just over a year, the city is debating whether to reopen the White Street municipal landfill to household garbage. Opponents who live near the landfill say the smell and truck traffic harm their quality of life, while the main proponent calls the original closure of the landfill the “worst economic decision” since the city was founded.
East Greensboro residents don’t want the nearby landfill to expand, but without access to the landfill, the city must transport its trash to the Uwharrie Regional Landfill in Montgomery County. The cost? City Councilman Mike Barber says Greensboro is paying an additional $7 million to $14 million a year in transportation costs.
The city manager’s office disputes that estimate, but has concluded the city could save $2.9 million annually by reopening the landfill, which some experts say has an additional 50-year capacity.
White Street landfill originally opened in the 1940s, and it has been a contentious issue for years. In a 1990 effort to spur development in economically challenged East Greensboro, the city provided free land and low-interest loans to the Nealtown Farms neighborhood, which sits mere yards from the landfill.
But when the city announced plans to expand the landfill in 1995, black community leaders charged city officials with environmental racism. Nealtown Farms residents filed suit against the city. In 1996, the parties reached a settlement, with the city agreeing to cover any losses in home values.
In 2001 the City Council voted to close the landfill to household garbage, and it has accepted only construction debris and yard waste since 2007. The city trucks its household waste to a transfer station — built in 2006 at a cost of $8 million — before it’s hauled to the Uwharrie landfill.
Barber raised the issue of reopening White Street last year. At a contentious meeting in April 2008, Barber noted that city environmental services director Jeryl Covington, based on capacity estimates provided by the North Carolina Division of Environmental and Natural Resources, did not recommend closing the landfill.
The council voted 6-3 not to reopen the landfill at the time. But Barber raised the issue again at a June 2009 council meeting, saying the state of the economy dictates that the city should continue to explore reopening White Street. “The economy no longer lets us live with the worst economic decision in this city since 1808,” Barber said.
A large group of residents who live near the landfill showed up at the meeting to speak out against its reopening, telling council members about the adverse effects of the smell and truck traffic along Nealtown Road, which runs perpendicular to White Street. In addition, a couple of candidates for the upcoming municipal election spoke out.
“It is my hope that Greensboro will … not (be) known as a city that flip-flops on life-altering decisions,” said Ryan Shell, who is running for a District 2 council seat. “But that is exactly where we’re heading if you overturn a previous council decision to reopen White Street to municipal waste.”
“The people have spoken, and (we) heard them speak the first time, after they struggled to get a unanimous vote,” said Luther Falls, who’s running for the District 1 council seat. “All council members at that time voted to close it, and it should not be reconsidered, for economic reasons or any other reasons.”
Mayor Yvonne Johnson and council members Goldie Wells and Dianne Bellamy-Small vociferously opposed reopening the landfill, and the debate became heated at times. “I don’t want our council to be thought of as a council that would consider jeopardizing our residents and doing it for money reasons,” Wells said. “We want to be a city that sticks together and loves each other, and we’re not doing that.”
Council member Robbie Perkins noted that he was on the council that voted to close White Street to municipal waste and, at the time, it “felt like the right thing to do.”
“I don’t mind this council having a discussion about anything, but I do mind us constantly threatening this neighborhood to reopen (the landfill) without a real good reason to do it,” Perkins said.
Still, Perkins added that he didn’t want to bind the city to a policy in the face of changing economic conditions. “If the Uwharrie landfill is shut down for reasons beyond Greensboro’s control, then we need a backup plan,” Perkins said.
Perkins suggested that a regional waste authority be formed so that Triad-area governments can combine their waste and “dispose of it efficiently.” Barber then countered that there’s no incentive for other governments to participate in a regional waste authority because those cities have added capacity to their landfills in recent years.
Barber also said environmental services director Covington negotiated favorable rates for hauling and disposal of the trash. But those contracts will eventually be up for renewal, and costs certainly would rise.
“We won’t be able to get the same deal,” Barber said. “Then the $7 million will go to $20 million.”
Barber said he was “not insensitive to (the) plight” of nearby residents who would be affected if the landfill reopened. “But I’m also not insensitive to the other 249,000 people who are paying a ridiculous amount of money to truck their waste 80 miles.”
Following the debate, the council voted 6-3 to table the issue, with Johnson, Wells, and Bellamy-Small voting against the motion. So the trash-talk is likely to continue.
Sam A Hieb is a contributor to Carolina Journal.