By Marty Gordon
Trash took center stage at Tuesday’s meeting of the Christiansburg Town Council as a question on where refuse will be disposed of was debated.
A proposed ordinance amending Chapter 28 of the town’s code titled “Solid Waste Flow Control” would establish a requirement that all garbage, trash or refuse generated or collected within the Town of Christiansburg shall be delivered only to the facilities of the Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority in Christiansburg.
The Virginia Waste Industries Association (VWIA), which represents 41 private garbage collectors, argued this ordinance would create a waste disposal “monopoly” by not allowing private collectors to dispose of trash at facilities of their choice.
Alan Cummins, executive director for the Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority (MRSWA), didn’t see it that way. Instead, he told Christiansburg leaders it should help to keep costs low, especially when it comes to charges for each locality.
“It doesn’t create a monopoly. It would still foster competition for haulers,” he said.
Rob Guidry, the president and CEO of CFS Container First Services, has recently moved a local disposal operation to 205 Scattergood Drive in Christiansburg and is investing millions of dollars to upgrade a former recycling facility. He told the council this ordinance would drastically affect his business and the investment his company is making.
“It would affect what we’re trying to build here,” he said.
CFS is the combined companies of Blue Ridge Disposal, New River Container and Bob’s Refuse. By the time the new facility is online, the company would have invested more than $40 million into the marketplace (numbers provided by CFS).
The company’s general manager, Ashleigh Garnes, pointed out that monopolies like this offer no benefit, especially when a thriving competitive marketplace already exists for services and products such as solid waste disposal.
“Why hold private haulers hostage to get the taxpayer dollars and use the disposal rate to make up a budget loss year over year?” she asked. “Why penalize and essentially financially destroy existing, permitted businesses by eliminating competition for no reason.”
Garnes said the change will increase costs for her company and many others in the area. “The public assertion into the private sector (about this measure) is that it is a short-term fix to a long-term problem,” she said. “Please look at the long-term impact of this decision.”
Most other private independent solid waste companies like CFS Container First take their refuse to a landfill in Dublin, and current charges at the Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority would drastically affect their overhead.
According to CFS, the MRSWA tipping fee is $54.50 per ton, $22 higher from the fee charged by the New River Resource Authority landfill in Dublin.
Blacksburg and Montgomery County officials have also discussed the matter but have yet to pass the measure.
Christiansburg leaders could vote on the matter at their next regularly scheduled meeting in March.
