Tired of taking trash to busy convenience centers? Beaufort County is working on a fix

After discussing the potential of a widespread curbside trash and recycling program, Beaufort County leaders are making moves to put the plan in motion.

In November 2015, Beaufort County Council announced its intention that by 2020, every household in the county would have its trash and recycling handled through a curbside pickup system. Currently, residents must drive their trash to 11 convenience centers across the county to dispose of their trash and recycling.

According to Cindy Carter, the county's solid waste coordinator, implementing the plan by 2020 is still a realistic goal.

"We've had two hurricanes and our solid waste manager retire in the last couple years, so yes (the plan) is still moving forward, but we've just been slowed down somewhat," Carter said.

The Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling Board is working to finalize a request for proposal for a curbside program in five of the county's nine solid waste districts that cover unincorporated Beaufort County.

Since Bluffton, Beaufort and Port Royal have their own pickup programs in place, the new curbside pickup system would be for residents in unincorporated Beaufort County.

If the program is adopted in the coming year, Hilton Head will be the only area of the county without a mandatory curbside pickup program.

County officials say the new program will help encourage recycling and reduce traffic at the county’s 11 convenience centers.

"Most of the convenience centers are over capacity," said Ashley Jenkins, Beaufort County recycling coordinator. "The traffic there is just ridiculous. From a safety standpoint, and from an operations standpoint, we can’t hire enough people to make sure everything is going in the right bins."

By 2020, South Carolina’s goal is to recycle at least 40 percent of its municipal solid waste. To meet that goal, Beaufort County needs to more than double its recycling rate in a year and a half.

Carter said moving to the curbside program could help the county reach that goal by allowing the convenience centers to run primarily as recycling hubs instead of as solid waste disposal sites, as they primarily do today.

"If we can get down to curbside pickup and keep the larger convenience centers open, then we could take more recyclables," Carter said, mentioning clothes, furniture and electronics. "There’s a lot more things we could take to make that 40 percent goal, and if you look at the goal past 2020, that's what we want to do."

Aside from the benefits, the curbside system is sure to come with its own set of challenges — how to handle sprawling rural areas and which companies will be involved, said Mike Bennett, a member of the county’s solid waste and recycling board.

"The general idea is very good," Bennett said. "But there’s a range of logistics that still need to be pieced together."

Although the curbside system is more convenient and cost effective for consumers, it will take a lot of work to piece together a system that incorporates the rural areas of St. Helena Island along with the booming areas around Bluffton, he said.

Until the request for proposal is released and companies submit their bids, a long list of unknowns still exists — for instance, how much the program will cost the county, whether it will be rolled out slowly to specific areas and whether companies will choose to take on a single solid waste district or the entire system.

Then the onus will be on County Council to decide if it still wants to implement the curbside pickup system.

County Council Chairman Paul Sommerville said he supports a widespread curbside pickup system.

"Trying to maintain some sanity, some semblance of order in those convenience centers is a real problem," Sommerville said. "... What happens when those convenience centers get completely overwhelmed? We’ve got to get out in front of that."

The proposal is likely to run into some backlash, he said.

Changes to convenience center operating hours and municipal changes to curbside pickup programs all have come under public scrutiny in recent years.

"Anytime you make any kind of change like this, someone is going to be troubled by it," Sommerville said. "... But we’re going to do everything we can to make this as smooth and convenient and environmentally friendly as we can."

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 10:53 AM.