CLEVELAND, GA. — New solid waste disposal contracts approved this week by the White County Board of Commissioners are expected to save the county and its residents quite a bit of money.
For several years the county has contracted with Waste Management Company to handle all the solid waste disposal needs, but for most of those years, the county has not been satisfied with the service provided, and attempts to improve that have not been successful.
Combining that with a proposed rate increase from Waste Management got the commissioners looking for a better solution. The county decided to put each element of the operation out for bids.
On Monday, the commission approved new contracts with three different service vendors. White County Manager Billy Pittard said the contracts approved are for transport, employees, and maintenance and operation. Those new contracts, compared to the proposed Waste Management increase, will save a combined $483,827 annually.
Those savings include disposal costs by the customer and savings for the county operation.
Pittard said, “In addition to avoiding a rate increase, we will also now have ‘direct’ control over the scale house, the loading, hauling, and disposal contractors.”
The county has the task of transitioning the management in-house in a very short window of time.
“I am very proud of our staff, and especially Derek Canupp, for working with others to make this seemingly impossible transition happen,” said Pittard.
White County will take over the entire solid waste disposal operation on January 2, 2024.
