Beaufort Co. may close two convenience centers and require decals to dump. What to know
In an effort to reduce costs and curtail traffic and illegal dumping, Beaufort County is considering closing two area convenience centers and implementing a decal system for residents next year.
Beaufort County’s public facilities committee approved those recommendations Monday evening, six months after an outside consulting firm recommended the county close half its convenience centers and encouraged the Town of Hilton Head Island adopt curbside pickup.
The recommendations will now go before the full County Council for final approval.
They include:
▪ closing the Gate convenience center in Beaufort
▪ closing the Pritchardville convenience center in Bluffton
▪ reducing all convenience center operating hours to 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
▪ implementing a decal system for Beaufort County property owners
▪ limiting the smaller convenience centers — Coffin Point, Big Estate, Lobeco, Cuffy and Sheldon — to three days a week.
While the closure dates and the implementation of the decal system still have to be decided by council, county officials say they will offer specifics next month about how the decal system would work.
The decals — free for county property owners and limited to one per household — will be scanned by an attendant at each convenience center. The system is intended to reduce traffic and illegal dumping and was recommended in the report by consultant Goldsmith Resources LLC.
The committee planned to address three options related to reduced operations at the Hilton Head convenience center, but removed it from the agenda, citing ongoing negotiations between Chairman Joe Passiment and Town of Hilton Head officials.
The county and Hilton Head are in the midst of an ongoing battle over payment for police services on the island.
Closing centers?
Beaufort County officials have considered reducing the use of area convenience centers for years.
In November 2015, County Council announced that every household would use a curbside pickup system for trash and recycling by 2020. Although that plan has not come to fruition, council will now consider a revised version.
In January, officials debated recommendations from Abby Goldsmith, principal of the Goldsmith company, about what to do with the centers.
Currently, many county residents have to drive to one of 11 convenience centers to dispose of their trash and recycling.
Residents visited the centers to drop off glass, cardboard, old tires and batteries, among other items, over 1 million times last year, according to Goldsmith’s report.
But the 25-year-old convenience centers are too expensive to operate and lead to traffic, environmental and safety problems, according to the solid waste study, presented to the county in January.
The study emphasized that convenience centers are primarily used in more rural areas. Residents within the town or city limits of Beaufort, Port Royal and Bluffton have curbside collection services.
The county solicited bids for curbside trash pickups in unincorporated parts of the county in 2018.
Although several companies bid, the county’s Solid Waste and Recycling Board ultimately shot down the idea.
The county’s 11 convenience centers — Hilton Head, Bluffton, Sheldon, Lobeco, Big Estate, Gate, Shanklin Road, St. Helena, Cuffy Road, Coffin Point and Pritchardville — average over 5,000 daily visitors, according to Goldsmith’s report.
“One approach to lower operating and capital costs, as well reducing reliance on convenience centers, is to offer fewer convenience center locations,” according to Goldsmith’s report.
If the two centers close, visitor traffic would be diverted to the next closest facility.
Unlike the other incorporated parts of the county, the Town of Hilton Head Island does not arrange curbside collection for all households.
Beaufort, Port Royal and Bluffton all pay for curbside pickup with user fees and property taxes, while the county pays for disposal with property taxes.
Whom does this affect?
Over 1.6 million people visited the area’s 11 convenience centers last year, according to Goldsmith’s report, which noted that 20 percent of households in Beaufort County don’t have a curbside collection service.
More visitors come to the convenience centers on Thursday than any other day, according to the report. Saturday and Tuesday are the next busiest.
The busiest locations: Hilton Head, Bluffton and St. Helena, according to the data.
The convenience centers accepted over 37,000 tons of household, yard and bulky waste last year, according to the report.
