Sumner County officials study Gallatin model as they scope a countywide 10-year solid-waste plan

County planners and local sanitation officials met in a workshop to gather practical details for a draft 10-year solid-waste plan, using Gallatin's operations as a working model for transfer stations, routing and recycling.

Organizers opened the informal session by asking Gallatin representatives and other participants to describe what makes the city's system work and what would be required to scale that model countywide. A Gallatin official identified in the record as Mr. Jerry said the city's in-town transfer station is a major efficiency driver because it reduces mileage and route times compared with hauling farther out of town.

That efficiency frames several challenges speakers raised for a county system: rural route distances, staffing limits, capital outlays and disposal access. Participants noted a newly opened transfer station near New Deal (referred to with a Cotton Town/Highway 76 location) is taking municipal solid waste rather than only construction-and-demolition debris. Several participants said long hauls from remote corners of the county would require substations or convenience centers to keep route times reasonable.

Gallatin officials described operational parameters that planners may use as baseline data: the city runs three days with nine routes and four days with eight routes, targets roughly 800 cans per route for an eight-hour day using 22-yard trucks, and reported roughly 19,746 cans serviced per week in April and about 15,916 customers in the year running July 1, 2024'June 30, 2025. The department reported 18 employees total (one supervisor, a crew leader, one administrative person, 13 CDL operators and two service workers) and said they typically have five brush trucks, eight CDL trash trucks in regular service, one non-CDL trash truck and two roll-off units for recycling. City staff said brush and yard waste collection accounts for almost a third of operating costs.

On finance and scale, speakers said Gallatin's operating sanitation budget (excluding capital) was about $3.3 million for the reported year. A participant gave a rough capital estimate of $550,000 to $600,000 per truck (truck, operator and initial operating supplies), noting a 10-truck starter fleet could cost about $6 million up front. Participants emphasized those figures are preliminary, approximate and intended to help model scale and capital needs for the county.

Recycling and vendor capacity drew particular attention. Gallatin operates a separated drop-off recycling site (plastic, glass, paper/cardboard, metals) at 641 Long Hollow Pike; cardboard is baled for sale, and the city uses regional processors, including a Waste Management facility off Lebanon Pike. Speakers mentioned local vendors (Gordy's Disposal, Mercury, Busy Bee, Kyler) and a new local firm, CFC, whose representative (Ali Ball) was recommended for a briefing. Officials said curbside residential recycling is expensive to run and that commercial recycling is better routed to private vendors.

Participants raised disposal and regulatory pressures: local tipping fees were cited around $60 per ton and speakers reported pressure for higher fees (examples discussed included figures around $71 per ton) as some landfills have reduced capacity or require hauling out of state. One participant said Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) enforcement and ownership changes have affected local landfill operations and routes.

Planners discussed alternatives to reduce hauling costs, including using rail where available; Gallatin's rail connection was noted as an asset for routing transfer-station loads to distant landfills, but speakers said rail access alone would not solve countywide distribution without additional rail spurs or transfer points.

Next steps recorded in the meeting included collection of Gallatin's capital and operating metrics for the county planning team, a possible briefing from the CFC recycling firm, and further analysis of convenience-center locations and the public-private mix for serving rural residents. Organizers solicited follow-up contacts and data, then closed the informal session.

The workshop produced operational benchmarks (route sizes, truck types, staffing, reported service volumes), an initial cost-per-truck estimate for capital modeling, and a vendor list to help shape a countywide approach; planners said they will use that information to refine options for convenience centers, transfer-station siting, and whether to pursue centralized hauling or mixed public-private service for rural areas.