County moving on from loss of city’s garbage?

Almost a month to the day after the Bainbridge City Council made the move to take its garbage somewhere else besides the Decatur County Landfill, Decatur County Administrator Gary Breedlove seemed say Tuesday that the county was moving past the ‘breakup,’ at least financially.

[Translation: we’d like to have you back, but if you’re really gone, we’re doing fine without you?]

At the tail end of a two-hour-long Decatur County Board of Commissioners meeting, Breedlove used part of his comment time to say that things were going smoothly at the landfill, even now that the City of Bainbridge is sending its garbage trucks down the long road to Campbellton, Fla.

Breedlove said a recent surge in the amount of garbage being dropped off daily at the county’s landfill-located off U.S. 27 South-was almost enough to offset what was lost when Bainbridge signed on with Waste Management’s facility in Campbellton, Fla. For the first three months of 2014, the daily total  volume at the county’s landfill was about 400 tons, said the county administrator, who had previously noted roughly 30 percent of that came from Bainbridge. Breedlove said the figures for the last 18 days (county officials closed the gates to Bainbridge’s trucks on April 16) showed a daily average of 400 tons.

In addition, Breedlove said that one of the Florida-based sources of garbage being dropped off at the Decatur County Landfill may soon bring much more volume for another customer it represents. If the deal goes through, the new customer could account for about 1,000 additional tons of garbage per month.

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You can also hear Breedlove talk to us back in April about what he maintains were incorrect calculations that the City of Bainbridge used to based its decision to go with Waste Management over Decatur County.  Although the City of Bainbridge plans to begin operating a transfer station and taking its garbage to Campbellton using a semi-trailer truck, we understand that for the moment, multiple trucks are making the trip every day across the state line and back.

Also in the video, you hear Breedlove refer to a reception being held following the commissioners’ meeting for Larry Battle, a 29-year EMS employee who is currently serving as its director. Battle is planning to retire soon.