Oconee County, South Carolina, considers tipping fee

The Independent Mail, Anderson, South Carolina, reports that officials in Oconee County, South Carolina, are considering a instituting tipping fee at the county’s solid waste transfer station to encourage cities within the county to participate in its recycling program.

According to the article, the cities of Seneca, Walhalla, Westminster, West Union and Salem create roughly 38 percent of the county’s waste. The waste is hauled from the county’s transfer station to a landfill in Georgia, which costs the county $32.07 per ton at an annual cost of $1.3 million. 

Councilmember Wayne McCall made the proposal for a recycling program involving the cities a meeting Tuesday, July 19, 2016, by . McCall also proposed modifying county convenience centers to improve ease of use for residents and charging a fee per bag of garbage deposited at a center, the article says.

Councilmember Joel Thrift criticized McCall’s plan for not including estimated implementation expenses. 

“It was just opinion,” he said at the meeting, the newspaper reports. 

Thrift also said, “Until [the cities] have to pay a tipping fee, there is no incentive to recycle. We need to have that conversation in a strong manner.”  

Paul Cain, council chairman, added that the plan should include educational outreach to encourage older residents to recycle, the Independent Mail reports.

“Until we recognize that, a psychological shift won’t occur,” Cain said.