Waste Management reports payments and site activity; residents raise dioxane and noise concerns
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Summary
Waste Management presented its annual report for Great Oak Landfill, citing millions in payments to the county and operations data; during public comment residents raised concerns about dioxane detections and a noisy shooting range near homes.
Waste Management representatives delivered the Great Oak Landfill annual report to the Randolph County Board of Commissioners, recapping the company’s payments to the county and operational statistics and answering commissioners’ questions about convenience sites and tire disposal.
Bob Peeler, senior manager of community relations and government affairs for Waste Management in the Carolinas, said the company appreciates the county’s partnership. Joy Jones, senior account executive of Public Sector, summarized financial contributions and said, "since our partnership started in 2014, we have paid 17,600,000.0 to Randolph County," including two recent fiscal-year payments and amounts allocated to convenience-site operation and disposal services. Mike McFeely, district manager of Great Oak Landfill, provided operational details including recent tonnage (about 672,000 tons taken in during the last fiscal year), the footprint constructed to date and that all six county convenience sites are manned.
Commissioners questioned site-specific costs, recycling tonnages and tire-disposal expenses; Waste Management said it can provide a breakdown of tonnage by site and noted tire-disposal costs had risen (the company reported paying Central Carolina Holdings about $390,000 for tire disposal in the last fiscal year).
During the public-comment period later in the meeting, residents raised environmental concerns. Susan Scott said dioxane was detected in Asheboro at levels she described as "nearly 30 times the maximum safe level determined by the EPA" and asked what Waste Management is doing to contain pollution; the panel did not provide a detailed operational response during that exchange on the record. Neighbors also raised a separate long-running complaint about noise from the Task Action Shooting Club on Fuller Mill Road North and urged updates to the county Unified Development Ordinance to address the issue.
Waste Management representatives said they would follow up with data and can provide site-by-site breakdowns requested by commissioners.
