Sparta’s Solid Waste Department is now able to take trash to the White County landfill, something the city has not been able to do since the county sold the landfill to Waste Management.
Sparta Public Works Director Dillard Quick said the city is dumping trash at the landfill on a cost-per-ton basis. Quick said taking trash to the local landfill is a huge relief for the city.
“That’s gonna save us some money as far as diesel is concerned, you know, because we’re going to Smart Station, wear and tear on our vehicles, and time for our bins, and so it’s gonna be considerable savings for us in the long run,” Quick said.
According to City Administrator Tonya Tindle, the current agreement is not a fully completed deal to use the landfill. Quick said the city is still negotiating with Waste Management to finalize a full deal.
“We pretty well know what our prices are gonna be on our sanitation,” Quick said. “We just got to figure out what the contract is gonna be with the leachate from them, and then what our sludge and silt is going to them. We are getting our permits in place. Once we get our permits in place, we should be able to strike a deal.”
Quick said it took a few years to get to this point. Quick said solid waste was having to band-aid trash disposal until something was put in place.
“We just had it good for so long, being able to take the trash down here to our landfill, it’s only like eight miles away,” Quick said. “We’ve been hauling to Smart Station, which is about 36 miles away.”
Tindle said that the city is still taking most of its trash to the transfer station located in Morrison, TN. The details of what the city is being charged per ton at the local landfill are not available at this time.
