Newton County GA : Trash Collection company decided on

The Newton County Solid Waste Authority is working toward finalizing a contract with Advance Disposal Inc. that would not only provide waste collection for county residents but also keep open and provide operation for the trash collection convenience centers through June 30.

The unanimous decision to move forward with Advance Disposal for solid waste collection throughout the county was made by the Solid Waste Authority (SWA) during its meeting Thursday evening at the Newton County Historic Courthouse.

As part of the contract, still to be finalized by the SWA, Advanced Disposal will provide several services, on a voluntary basis, to Newton County.

Those services are:

• Curbside pickup (MSW) for unincorporated areas (no mandatory)
• Provide a 96-gallon cart users for one-day-a-week pickup.
• Provide same-day pickup for large items (bulk waste)
• Have special pickup available for elderly/disabled
• Operate convenience centers through June 2017

Other services will be available to Newton County residents for an additional charge, if desired.

The SWA put out bids for collection service companies around a year ago and a committee consisting of authority members Lanier Sims, Ronnie Johnston (who was absent from Thursday's meeting) and Wayne Haynie selected Advanced Disposal from three collection companies. According to Haynie, Advance Disposal was the company that best matched criteria set out by the selection committee and had the lowest bid.

'Advanced is a firm that is well known in the solid waste business,' Haynie said. 'They are fairly local in that the operate in surrounding counties and some in Newton County. They also had the most advantageous price for Newton County.'

User fees for curbside pickup are yet to be determined but Haynie estimated cost would be somewhere around $18-20. The SWA will review the contract with Advanced Disposal and work on finalizing a cost for curbside pickup.

An agreement with Advanced Disposal would mark the first time the county entered into a contract with a curbside pickup company.

For years, Newton County has provided residents with 11 trash convenience collection centers for waste disposal at no additional charge. During this past summer's budgeting process, the Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted to charge residents for use of the convenience centers through six months and then close the centers for the other half of the fiscal year.

The actions, which included a $50 fee for the centers that went into effect in October, were meant to balance the 2017 fiscal year budget which had a shortfall of around $2 million before the BOC's vote.

In order to provide proof of payment for use of the centers, the BOC created vehicle hang tags. The tags featured an expiration date of June 30. That is the date the SWA, which took over operation of all solid waste operations shortly after the BOC created the tags, used in its most recent expansion of trash convenience collection center operations.

The SWA's next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 19 at the Newton County Historic Courthouse.