by Erin Wiltgen

chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035

CHAPEL HILL — Out of sight, out of mind, just doesn’t cut it for the rural residents of Orange County seeking to make their opinions on solid waste management loud and clear through the Talkin’ Trash Survey, which closes Friday.

The survey — distributed by Orange County Voice, a citizen activist group that speaks for rural residents — launched in early October when the Orange County Board of County Commissioners deferred the decision to close the Bradshaw Quarry Convenience Center until December when the Solid Waste Work Group would have a more finalized, comprehensive plan on the county’s solid waste management.

Bonnie Hauser of OCV said the group rushed to get the survey out to give commissioners rural input.

“We wanted to take this out of opinion to a survey,” she said. “We wanted to have a statistically valid survey to find out what people really do think.”

The survey asks residents what services they currently use, what services they would like to see in future, and what their tolerance would be for any fees. Before the results are released, OCV wants to validate that the survey responses didn’t overlap households and only came from rural residents.

Once these validations have been made, OCV will hold a public hearing, inviting the BOCC, and the group will also present the results at the SWWG’s November meeting.

The SWWG, which will soon conduct its own survey tailored to specific items in the solid waste plan, welcomes the information OCV’s survey can provide despite any potential biases.

“Admittedly, they’re advocating for certain stances and approaches to things,” said Blair Pollock, solid waste planner. “And that’s OK. That’s what people do in a democracy. We still feel like we’d benefit from this opinion poll they’ve done.”

Public feedback plays an important role in the SWWG’s process, Pollock said. Before the group presents its finished product to the BOCC, it will present it for public comment.

And although that plan is far from finished, the group has made progress on the section focused on the unincorporated area of the county. This aspect of the plan forced its way to the forefront when the closing of BQCC came to the table.

“You can’t really adjust the future of the convenience centers in a vacuum,” Pollock said.

Rather, the SWWG needs to take in the entirety of rural solid waste collection, he said, including the convenience centers, curb side recycling and garbage collection.

The convenience centers claimed the hot seat first with BQCC’s looming closure. The work group’s plan consists of ways to possibly modernize the convenience centers to make them more efficient, which would mean new costs.

The SWWG also must look at how the county can pay for the centers in an economy that requires a stricter budget, Pollock said. While it recently threw out the idea of a pay-per-bag system, the group still considers a per-household fee for bulky items, a per-household fee for recycling and the general fund.

The question of extending curb side recycling as well as franchising garbage collection in unincorporated areas are other items for consideration.

And the input of rural residents will help finalize those decisions. Hauser said the Talkin’ Trash Survey has gotten tremendous response, and the more input received, the more accurate the poll will be.

“It’s been thrilling to meet people all over the county that are excited about the survey,” she said, “that are interested in the future, and that engage in it.”

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Talkin’ Trash Survey

The Talkin’ Trash Survey administered by Orange County Voice seeks to get input from Orange County rural residents on what solid waste services they use, what services they would like to see in the future and what fee they would be willing to pay.

The survey closes Friday, and is available online at www.OrangeCountyVoice.org or in hard copy at convenience stores throughout the county.

Contact trashsurvey@OrangeCountyVoice.org for further information.

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What does it mean?

Franchising garbage collection in rural areas of Orange County involves dividing the area up into sections and designating each section to a private garbage collector. That collector would have exclusive rights to the houses in that section, and the proximity of collection stops would not only increase efficiency of garbage collection but lower costs for residents.