Dive Summary:
- Bibb county and the city of Macon, Georgia are merging, integrating their waste services—and raising arguments from both sides.
- Bibb county uses a private company, Advanced Disposal, for its services while Macon relies on municipal collection, with each disposing of their waste at different landfills.
- With the city landfill reaching capacity soon, Bibb is pushing for privatization across the board, while Macon believes increased recycling is the solution, reasoning that reducing the volume of trash will give them the ability to negotiate competitive rates.
From the article;
“The county chose years ago to privatize it and I don’t think there’s any looking back,” said County Commissioner Lonzy Edwards. “It has been far more cost effective.”
“That probably is going to be a very contentious issues because you have some elected officials who believe that privatization is a bad word and that government should not take jobs away from public sector employees,” Edwards said.
“Even if we fill this landfill up and have to close it, the idea was if we get all the county’s waste, we’ll be responsible for it -- to recycle as much as we can and reduce the volume that needs to leave Macon, Georgia if this landfill is full,” said Larry Dunning, Assistant Solid Waste Director with the city’s public works department.
