Colbert County commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to allow a Cherokee landfill company to accept non-hazardous industrial waste, and construction and demolition materials from Alabama and the bordering states of Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. P&F Industrial Enterprises originally asked the commission to amend its permit with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to include all 48 contiguous states. The landfill at Barton Riverfront Industrial Park already is permitted to accept waste from Colbert County.
Company representatives said they need the expanded service area to make the landfill financially viable. Steve Witmer, of CWI Enterprises of Atlanta, Georgia, who is partnering with P&F, said the compromise will work from a financial standpoint. “This is a regional business,” Witmer said. “It’s unlikely we would take waste from all 48 states.”
The vote came after a public hearing attended by about three dozen people at the Colbert County Office Complex. The hearing was held to gather residents’ opinions about allowing the landfill to expand its service area beyond Colbert County. A larger number of people stood when Commission Chairman Jimmy Gardiner asked who was in support of the company’s request than when he asked who opposed it. Four people, including farmer and businessman L.O. Bishop and his son, Luther Bishop, spoke in support of the expansion while five people spoke against it. Cherokee resident Larry Pilkington said the landfill would be a benefit to industries in Barton-Riverfront Industrial Park. “It would be a great asset to them to have a closer facility,” he said.
Businesses there have to transport waste to the Colbert County Landfill in Tuscumbia. Luther Bishop said the landfill could help recruit industry to Colbert County and the industrial park. Residents who spoke against the expansion were concerned about accepting waste from such a large area. Florence resident Bud Pride was concerned about the toxicity of industrial waste that could end up in the landfill and the site’s proximity to Colbert Fossil Plant, which has a large toxic coal ash impoundment the Tennessee Valley Authority must address. “Industrial waste is toxic,” Pride said. “Putting another toxic landfill is not in the best interest of Colbert County.”
Residents also were concerned the landfill would accept waste other states did not want. Witmer said the landfill will not accept any toxic waste, and all industrial waste will have to be approved by ADEM before it is dumped. Larry Beech, a consultant who has worked with P&F since 2010, said the landfill could be financially viable in accepting waste from four states. “The landowners have spent a considerable amount of money to put in this landfill,” Beech said.
Commissioner Rex Burleson, the commission’s appointee to the Shoals Solid Waste Authority, said he supports attracting industry, but did not support accepting waste from 48 states. Burleson cast the lone dissenting vote despite the reduced service area. Gardiner and commissioners Roger Creekmore, David Black and Charles Hovater supported the compromise. Commissioner Emmitt Jimmar did not attend the meeting. Burleson said it’s his understanding ADEM would amend the company’s permit based on the commission’s decision. Beech said 80 percent of the materials that go into this type of landfill are wood products and plastics. Hovater, who represents the district where the landfill is located, said he was never for a landfill that would accept household garbage. He agreed the landfill will be an asset to the industrial park. “If we don’t want waste, we need to stop creating waste,” he said.