Haulers accused of dumping residents' recycling efforts
mshapiro@islandpacket.com
843-706-8142
BLUFFTON-- A trash hauling company is investigating whether crews are mixing trash and recycled material from several Hilton Head Island neighborhoods and taking it to a Jasper County landfill.
Without confirming that trash and recyclables are being mixed, Will Flower, a spokesman for Fort Lauderdale-based Republic Waste, said, "Obviously, this should not be occurring, and we are certainly now launching an investigation."
An Island Packet reporter followed garbage trucks on a recycling route over a two-month period. A truck driver on a biweekly recycling route regularly picked up recyclables from homes in Sea Pines and Port Royal Plantation, but also picked up garbage from several Sea Pines villas and the Bridgetown apartments on Marshland Road. Trash and recyclables were loaded into the same compartment in the back of the truck.
The combined contents were then taken to the landfill, weighed and driven up onto the hills of trash, where trucks unload garbage.
In one instance, a driver picked up recycling in a Hilton Head Plantation neighborhood along with trash from other parts of the gated community. Using the same truck, the driver also picked up trash from the Hilton Head Harbor RV Resort & Yacht Club. The mix of garbage and recyclables was then taken into the landfill.
Hickory Hill has a recycling facility near its entrance where drivers are supposed to off-load recyclables. But on multiple occasions, a Republic driver carrying a mix of recyclables and trash drove past that area and directly into the landfill.
Lou Diaz, regional manager for Republic, and Dan Alward, a local supervisor, both said they were unaware of any instances in which recyclables were being combined and dumped with trash.
"It's not happening regularly as far as I'm concerned and as far as I know," Diaz said. "This is the first I've ever heard of it and we've been doing this for 10 years."
Alward said, "I don't know nothing about that," adding that he'd look into the matter.
James Amick, a regional president for Republic who works in Greenville, said the mixing "wouldn't be a standard practice that we would approve." He said specific questions on the issue would be better addressed to Diaz.
Jim Minor, Beaufort County's solid waste and recycling director, said residents call his office fairly often to accuse haulers of dumping recyclables.
"We hear that all the time," he said.
But when county workers have looked into those complaints, he said, they've been unable to prove any company was dumping recyclables in the landfill.
Beginning July 1, the county will have the authority to strip the hauling license from a company that's dumping recycled materials, he said.
The Town of Hilton Head requires residential waste haulers to offer customers the option of curbside recycling pick-up.