PCG representatives briefed the Gates County Board of Commissioners on convenience-center operations, enforcement challenges and regulatory limits, saying the county’s four sites are governed both by local ordinances and by North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rules that treat “collection centers” as residential drop-off facilities.

The presentation, delivered to the board during its Oct. 15 meeting, summarized staffing, service coverage and recent disposal trends and recommended that Gates, Chowan and Perquimans counties align local solid-waste ordinances to reduce confusion for attendants and users who cross county lines.

Why it matters: PCG staff told commissioners that routine cross-jurisdictional coverage by attendants — moving employees among the three counties to keep sites open — can create enforcement inconsistencies where one county’s ordinance differs from another’s. That can increase unauthorized or unintended use of Gates sites, which PCG staff said may be contributing to rising disposal costs.

What PCG presented
- PCG/ARHS operate a joint convenience-center system that serves three counties; Gates has four convenience sites and the regional transfer station is in Belvidere.
- The vendor reported a marked increase in tons managed per resident from 2014–2024 despite a slowly declining county population; the presenter said Gates’ per-capita disposal in 2024 was about 0.6725 tons per person compared with a U.S. average of about 0.8–0.9 tons per person annually.
- The operator said local ordinances for Perquimans, Chowan and Gates differ; for example, Gates’ code limits residential users to “one standard pickup-truck load per person per day,” a restriction not present in the neighboring counties’ ordinances.

Regulatory limits and consequences
PCG staff reviewed DEQ’s 15A Subchapter 13 guidance for collection centers and emphasized that collection centers are defined as drop-off points for "individual residential households" and are not required to be permitted so long as they meet the rule’s limits. The presenter told commissioners that if a site accepts waste from nonresidential activities or commercial haulers, that facility no longer qualifies as a collection center and becomes subject to the transfer-station rules (15A Subchapter 13, Section .0400), including permitting and leachate-handling requirements.

Operational details and constraints
PCG described on-site logistics that limit adding containers at specific sites: container placement must allow trucks and customers to access roll-offs and compactors safely, and space is needed for service trucks, porta-john servicing and customer vehicle circulation. Staff said a site that appears to have physical room for another roll-off can still be constrained once movement and servicing are accounted for.

Items, inspections, and customer guidance
PCG staff listed several items that convenience centers do not accept and that must be disposed of at the transfer station or through special handling, including tires, liquids, hazardous materials, fluorescent tubes and animal carcasses. The presenter said DEQ inspectors may enter convenience centers to check compliance and urged better public communication and attendant training on what is accepted and where to bring items that convenience centers will not handle.

Possible next steps
PCG recommended the three counties consider a single, aligned solid-waste ordinance and said it sent a proposal to county managers and the PCG board in June seeking feedback on methods to reduce unauthorized use and the rise in disposal tonnage. Commissioners asked for clarification on how ordinance alignment would be implemented and on options for better signage and public outreach.

Ending: Commissioners did not take formal action on the operator’s recommendation at the meeting but directed staff to continue discussions with PCG and with neighboring counties about aligning rules, improving attendant training and increasing public information about what the convenience sites accept.