Athens and Limestone County residents do not generate enough inert waste to justify building a construction and demolition landfill at a jointly owned site on Seven Mile Post Road.

That’s the conclusion of a study committee that visited C&D; landfills in different parts of the state to see how the operations are run.

The city and county contribute about 53 tons of inert materials, which they pay Allied Waste—formerly BFI—$43.86 per ton to haul to a regional landfill in Lawrence County. The study committee determined it would take at least 80 tons a day—and preferably 100 tons—to make the operation profitable.

On Tuesday, City of Athens Sanitation Manager Earl Glaze presented findings of the study committee. Glaze, Public Works Director James Rich, retired Limestone County commissioner Wendell Powers, City Councilman Johnny Crutcher and Commission Chairman David Seibert served on the committee.

This is not the first time the Athens Limestone Solid Waste Authority has studied the feasibility of operating a C&D; landfill. In 1999, then-city engineer Joe Pugh of Pugh, Wright & Associates also said it would take some 100 tons.

Glaze said of those C&D; landfills the committee toured, Anniston in Calhoun County had the most efficiently run facility.

“The city of Athens and Anniston are remarkably the same, but the county has twice as many people so they generate much more C&D; materials,” said Glaze.

Glaze said Anniston has state-of-the-art equipment that separates materials, such as limbs, metals, oil and paint for recycling. He said they do not charge for accepting concrete because that material is used in a drainage project.

The initial cost of building trenches and buying equipment for a C&D; landfill would be $1.5 million, Glaze said. Added to that is an estimated $500,000 per year to operate the landfill.

The savings on keeping 53 tons a day of inert wastes in Limestone County would be $36,000, Glaze said.

“The bottom line is are we prepared to spend $2 million to save $36,000 a year,” said Seibert.

The only way the Solid Waste Authority could get enough tonnage to efficiently run a C&D; landfill would be to turn it into a regional facility. Athens Mayor Dan Williams said the public outcry a decade ago against establishing a regional sanitary landfill precludes officials from suggesting any kind of regional operation today, even though the materials going into the landfill would be inert.

Glaze said ESA, a company out of Birmingham, had approached the city in August about operating a C&D; landfill on a contract basis. Also, Allied has said it would estimate the cost of operating a C&D; landfill for the community. He said both companies would want to know if the Solid Waste Authority was willing to “go regional” before considering the project.

Rich said the community’s 20-year Solid Waste Plan filed with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management would have to be rewritten and approved to include a regional landfill. “We’d have to go back to ADEM for another Solid Waste Plan because we’re not approved for a regional landfill,” said Rich.

The Solid Waste Authority just applied to ADEM for a five-year permit extension for the Seven Mile Post Road site.

“I wouldn’t recommend, from my heart, to say let’s go with it right now, because we haven’t got the tonnage,” said Crutcher. “We need to hold off for five years and then make a recommendation.”

Seibert, as chairman of the Solid Waste Authority, said he would write up a recommendation to present to the Athens City Council and the Limestone County Commission, saying the authority did not believe it was in the best interest of the community to go ahead with the C&D; landfill at this time.

Rich said the authority should have a plan to present in five years.