Want to weigh in on Arbor Nature’s proposed trash dump on Hilton Head? Here’s how
A tree-grinding operation that recently moved to Hilton Head Island’s north end has applied for a solid waste transfer station permit, angering residents in its new neighborhood who worry the business will become a noisy landfill that poses threats to the environment.
Arbor Nature, which — through a settlement with the Town of Hilton Head Island — recently relocated from Leg O Mutton Road near Indigo Run, applied to the state for the transfer station permit to hold up to 240 tons of debris. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control will hold a question and answer session on the application Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
If the permit is approved, up to 10 trucks per hour would take about six minutes to enter the site and deposit construction and demolition materials before heading back toward Dillon Road, according to the permit application.
This possibility is “disgraceful,” said Hilton Head Plantation resident Gail Denton, who has written to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to oppose the permit.
“I just can’t see why they would bring that type of industrial operation into the middle of a pristine barrier island that’s relatively small and primarily a tourist destination,” she told The Island Packet in August.
Denton said she’s concerned that few people know about the permit application. DHEC’s original public comment deadline was earlier this summer, but it has been pushed back to Sept. 25. A virtual public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 17.
Island resident Judith Berry wrote to the Town Council in August, saying “This is an environmental disaster waiting to happen and an absolute traffic nightmare for both residents and tourists. You are adding even more trucks to our out dated bridges and (U.S.) 278 corridor.”
.jpg "Screenshot (173).jpg")
The permit Arbor Nature is seeking is different from one for a landfill. If approved, the company’s site on Summit Drive would be a temporary drop-off location for construction and demolition debris, as opposed to its permanent home.
Glenn Stanford, who represents the area on Hilton Head’s Town Council, wrote in an email to constituents this week that he plans to attend the public meetings about the application.
“This type of operation permits temporary storage and then transfer of waste materials including hazardous waste such as asbestos,” he said. “I am strongly opposed to this application and will stand against it as a private citizen.”
The site would process hundreds of tons of debris, including materials containing asbestos, from across Beaufort County and beyond. Class 2 landfills can accept tree limbs and brush, bricks, glass, hardened cement, lumber, tires and animal carcasses, according to SCDHEC. Waste contaminated by petroleum products or pesticides are not allowed.
The company is in an industrial area near the Hilton Head Island Airport but close to Port Royal Plantation and homes off Dillon Road. It is about a half-mile from the Hilton Head Solid Waste & Recycling Center. Its application says the waste transfer site would operate between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
As nearby residents prepare to oppose the permit, they point to other environmental effects from waste disposal off the island.
A mound of trash and debris in Okatie caught fire last summer and spewed toxic smoke and fumes over homes in an industrial park near Okatie was once the site of Able Contracting’s Recovered Material Processing Facility.
The facility’s operator stored used construction materials there before grinding them up and recycling them.
A loophole in an outdated state law allowed the operator to accumulate material that at the time amounted to a 90-foot pile of debris that caught fire and prompted a federal and state cleanup of the site.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 3:20 PM.
