Stephens Co. To Close Inert Landfill

Stephens County will be closing its inert landfill.

On Tuesday, county commissioners voted unanimously to set December 31 as the final day that the county’s inert landfill will accept waste and then at the same time, to begin the closure process with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

County Administrator Phyllis Ayers said that the EPD informed entities operating inert landfills, which take items like brush and stumps, that if they closed them by June 1, the guidelines would be less strict than if they were closed following June 1.

Ayers said the county received an extension on that June 1 deadline to December 31.

She said that closing the county’s inert landfill now, with it close to being full anyway, will be an easier and a less expensive process than if the county were to wait.

“We could go beyond December 31, 2015, but we would have to meet different closure guidelines,” said Ayers. “You saw what we went through with the C & D (landfill), very expensive.”

Ayers said that very few entities still use the county’s inert landfill.

Those are the city of Toccoa, Stephens County, one private business, and occasionally the DOT, she said.

She went on to say that the county is still looking at options for what to do with its brush and stumps after the inert landfill is closed.

“We are looking at does it make sense to purchase a tub grinder, just haul it off, or pay someone to haul it off,” said Ayers.

According to Ayers, the county has already begun collecting and moving dirt that has been donated by ASI to cover the inert landfill as part of the closure process.