
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994                    TAG: 9406010128 
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER                     PAGE: 08    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY DURWOOD S. CURLING 
DATELINE: 940603                                 LENGTH: Medium

CHEAPEST METHOD NOT ALWAYS BEST FOR WASTE DISPOSAL

{LEAD} In the mid-1970s, the region's communities recognized they were headed for a solid waste disposal crisis. Through the Regional Planning Commission, a plan for solid waste management was completed in the spring of 1977, and all eight communities in the region endorsed it.

The plan provided for the development of an integrated solid waste management system that would include landfills, waste-to-energy, recycling, transfer stations, household hazardous waste collection and public education. This system has been built to serve the citizens of Southeastern Virginia and is both internationally and nationally recognized as one of the most cost-effective and environmentally sound solid waste management systems in existence.

{REST} Through the development of this system, the focus of the Southeastern Public Service Authority has been to reduce dependence on landfills and to develop beneficial uses for as much of the solid waste stream as possible. Today, approximately 55 percent of the waste generated within the service area is recycled or utilized in the production of steam and electricity; the other 45 percent is send to landfills.

These percentages are at the center of the current debate over waste flow control, which determines where waste can be taken for disposal.

Private waste haulers argue that the local communities should allow their waste to leave the area and be taken for disposal to a private landfill because landfill-only operations have lower disposal fees.

SPSA acknowledges that a landfill-only operation is cheaper than an integrated management system, but cheapest is not always best.

In the end, the debate really comes down to one question: ``What kind of waste management system do you want?''

SPSA maintains that a publicly operated, integrated waste system, which makes beneficial use of a majority of the waste produced and is accountable to the citizens of the region is unquestionably the most responsive and environmentally responsible system.

by CNB