Macon’s Landfill in Trouble with EPD Again: Who’s to Blame?

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Macon’s landfill is in trouble with environmental protection division again for several of the same issues it’s had in the past.

In the most recent inspection it received a 65. It needs an 80 to be in compliance.

In recent years, the landfill’s score has gone from a 90 in October 2012, down to a 65 in June 2013, and again, another 65 at the beginning of January.

The recent low score caused Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Al Tillman to question who’s actually to blame. Tillman said it’s possible that county’s public works director, Richard Powell, may not be getting the support he needs from his staff.

“My concern is, is there someone in his department that could be possibly undermining him,” said Tillman.

When asked who’s responsible for keeping it up to code, Macon-Bibb’s Assistant County Manager Steve Layson said a lot of people.

“Myself, public works, sanitation… all of us play a role,” said Layson.

Some of the issues noted in the recent report were exposed waste, standing water on the landfill, and litter and windblown trash throughout the facility.

This isn’t the first time the landfill’s been cited for standing water. In June 2011, it was one of the issues that eventually cost the city $35,000 in environmental fines.

After this recent report, Powell says big changes are coming in the sanitation department.

“We’ve missed some items that we should have had in place is what it boils down to. We’re going to have to put some more checks and balances in place,” said Powell.

Powell wants workers to be held more accountable. He also expects defficiencies to be reported more accurately.

“One of the things that the inspector pointed out in his inspection was that one of the reports that he looked at, didn’t reflect what he saw,” said Powell.

Powell plans to change that, and added, he’s not going to let the bad grade trash the work he’s done to improve the landfill.

“We went from a 50 to a 75 to a 90… looking at this new score we can’t afford afford to get another low score we had to do something,” said Powell.

Layson said he is currently looking into what the violations are and trying to research why the corrections were not made. He plans to meet with EPD to go over correcting the issues.

Powell said he will work with county officials to get the landfill up to code.