Trash pact makes way for blight cleanups

The Carbon County Commissioners were talking trash on Thursday.

The board approved the county’s new 10-year solid waste plan, which will go into effect in January.

Some notable changes may help municipalities and the county with projects and cleanups.

Commissioner William O’Gurek, who outlined the plan in May, spoke again about one action in the plan regarding a municipal waste disposal capacity agreement with seven landfills that the area uses for disposal of refuse.

Six out of seven of the contracted landfills, through the new 10-year plan, have donated storage space in their landfills for the county as in-kind contributions for future projects, he said.

“We all know stories about blighted properties needing to be demolished and who is going to cover the cost associated with them,” O’Gurek said. “This is an opportunity for municipalities to take a look and converse with the county about possibly depositing refuse and stuff from demolition into one of these landfills at no cost, thereby reducing the cost of the projects.”

Types of projects could include demolition of deteriorated buildings, illegal dump site cleanups, roadways cleanups and more.

He used the example of the former Elks building demolition in Lansford.

“Had we had the in-kind contributions for the contract then we could have saved a bundle in disposal fees by writing into the contract that the contractor would deposit it at a (certain) landfill because of the in-kind contribution.”

O’Gurek also urged the future board of commissioners to have an open mind with helping municipalities with things such as this and find creative solutions to for projects.

This is the first time Carbon County has included this in-kind contribution in the plan.

David Bodnar, county planning director, said that the program, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, is only available on the municipal level and not available to residents trying to get rid of large deposits of refuse.