Tag Archives: recycling

Videos: 3 rezonings, 1 Utility Easement Termination, Orr Road Bids, Backup Generators for Pruitt Health Facilities @ LCC Regular 2026-02-10

Two weeks ago at their Regular Session, the Lowndes County Commissioners
discussed for nine minutes

5.c. REZ-2026-03 Villanueva Property, 6201 Union Rd, 6ac, E-A to C-G.,
mostly about fence colors.
They ended up approving the rezoning with the staff-recommended conditions,
except not the one about fence color.

They also talked for six and a half minutes about the agenda item they added,

6.b. Temporary Burn Ordinance.

Gretchen Quarterman noted, “There have been over 100 grass
fires so far this year. Lowndes County (and surrounding counties) is
in extreme drought. This temporary ordinance is made in conjunction
with Georgia Forestry to protect property, people, resources, etc.
This burn ban includes “recreational” fired and fires inside of a
burn barrel. It does not ban outdoor grilling of food. (or so I
thought I heard).”

She added, “The text of the
county FB post is as follows:”

“Due to prolonged dry weather and worsening drought conditions,
outdoor burning of yard debris is now restricted in the
unincorporated areas of Lowndes County. To reduce wildfire risks and
protect public safety, property, and natural resources, all open
burning of yard debris, including leaves, limbs, grass, and other
vegetative matter, is prohibited within the unincorporated area of
Lowndes County until drought conditions improve.”

They passed all the agenda items unanimously.


[Collage @ LCC 10 February 2026]

Collage @ LCC 10 February 2026

Three citizens wished to be heard:

Gretchen Quarterman about solid waste and recycling,

Mary Roe about Paving of Green Road,
and

Joel Deon about Data Center concerns.

Below are links to each LAKE video of each agenda item,
with a few notes by Gretchen Quarterman,
followed by a LAKE video playlist.

See also the Continue reading →

How to invite toxic industries to your county



Maybe we should stop inviting toxic industries to Lowndes County.
We’ve been doing that with coal ash, PCBs, superfund wastewater,
used diapers in recycling, and suing local businesses while not terminating
an exclusive franchise with a company that is involved in all of that.
Not to mention Sterling Chemical.



Here in Lowndes County we have

TVA coal ash and Florida coal ash
in our landfill,
and the landfill operator spreads the coal ash on roads on the site,
which is just uphill from the Withlacoochee River.

GA EPD
fined that landfill operator $27,500 in January 2013

for accepting PCBs into that same Pecan Row Landfill.
The same landfill that accepted

196,500 gallons of wastewater from the
Seven Out Superfund site in Waycross, GA.

A landfill that is

in an aquifer recharge zone. Continue reading →

Broadband, outsourcing, trash, and fire @ LCC 2014-02-28


The second day of the Commission retreat is finished.
Reporting from location, Gretchen noted:

1PM: BroadBand

Chairman Bill Slaughter has a five year goal of making broadband
available. Some possibility of creating a fibre ring.
He says he’s working with the City of Valdosta.

Well, a year ago in February he said broadband was

“one of the number one issues”,
but in October he said
“we have broadband”,
so it’s anyone’s guess what his opinion will be in a few months.

1:06PM: Outsourcing

Commissioner Crawford Powell wants to outsource more county services.

That’s working so well, after all; see the next note.

1:19PM: Trash evaluation

Continue reading →

ADS included household trash in their recyclded items –Tim Carroll

Personal recollection from Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll received today on

ADS fails to recycle, appeals DSS ruling anyway,
adding detail that wasn’t in the VDT article.



The main problem the City was having with ADS was they included
household trash in their recycled items. Used diapers and other
household products mixed in with recycle materials is not allowed.
The City advised ADS back to this past October of the issue and no
improvements were made. Eventually the city had no choice but to cut
them off. The City is a regional hub for recycle material and proud
to offer the service.



OK, so is that a violation of the county’s

“exclusive franchise”
with ADS?

-jsq

No list of who bought waste collection center cards? @ LCC 2013-02-12

How can Lowndes County not have a list of who it
sold waste collection center cards to?
How can it not provide it in response to an open records request?

In the

9 October 2012 Regular Session, Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard
said:


Just under 5,000 residents who have purchased the cards

That was in his curiously redacted summary of the history of
solid waste handling in the county, and he was referring to the
access cards to the waste collection centers.


Paige Dukes to April Huntley 2013-01-28
Yet when April Huntley submitted an open records request asking
for the names of the 5,000 people who would be affected by the
waste collection centers, this is what County Clerk Paige Dukes
replied:

In regards to your open records requst for a copy of the 5,000 residents
in unincorporated Lowndes County who will be affected by the closing of
the recycling centers, the document you have requested does not exist.

Maybe this explains part of why

Veolia, excuse me, ADS, seemed so confused yesterday morning.
Come tonight to see if any Commissioners ask about this.

-jsq

Petition the Commission: Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers

Seen today; I’ve added some links.
Yesterday I also saw (and signed) a paper version. -jsq


Lowndes County Commission: Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers.



 Petition by

April Huntley

Naylor, GA

The County

is responsible for protecting the health and safety of the public.
They

have made decisions to

close all the county dump sites
and license

one out of state waste collection company with

little, if any public input.
There is

concern among citizens of
more

trash being on roadways,
more

expense on their part, being forced to

pay for a service the county should provide and

not having choice
in collection companies which

may put small business owners out of business
while backing a large out of state company.

To:

Joyce Evans, District # 1 Commissioner

Richard Raines, District # 2 Commissioner

Crawford Powell, District # 3 Commissioner

Demarcus Marshall, District # 4 Commissioner

John Page, District # 5 Commissioner

Bill Slaughter, County Commission Chairman

Provide solid waste and recycling collection centers.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

How to implement trash, health, and safety?

Disposal of solid waste (trash/garbage) is a matter of

community public health and safety
and providing such service

is the responsibilty of the local governing bodies.
How should trash health and safety responsibly be implemented?



We cannot be left in a situation where residents are either “forced
to buy” service from a provider, or have no option but to burn
their trash. The government can levy a tax, but they cannot say that
residents are forbidden to buy a service from an independent provider.

Such a ruling is

  • unfriendly to those who currently own, or want to
    start

    a waste collection business in our county    ,
  • unfriendly to the
    residents who are counting on the government to follow
    the state-legislated goals to

    “protect the health
    safety, and well-being of its citizens and to protect
    and enhance the quality of its environment” ,

  • unfriendly to the environment as trash ends up on the side of the
    road or polluting the air by being burned and leaves us to
    face a new problem on a different day.

Residents in the unincorporated areas of the county who want curb side
collection, for the most part, already purchase it. Those of us using

the collection centers do so because it is our preference.

The county
should (in my opinion) create a special tax district for waste disposal
(it already makes special lighting districts) and tax the residents
for the maintenance of the collection centers.

-gretchen

Who implements trash, health, and safety?

As we’ve seen, solid waste is a matter of public health, safety,
well-being, and the environment,

according to Georgia state law.
Whose responsibility is it to protect the environment
and the public health, safety, and well-being from solid waste?

Many health and safety issues are handled through the health department,

Diagram of the waste hierarchy

including the Georgia Department of Public Health,
and the

South Health District
(Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Tift and Turner Counties).
Particularly, water quality (septic tanks, well water), food safety,
cleanliness of hotels, motels, restaurants, swimming pools and so on
are the responsibility of the local health department,
such as the

Lowndes County Health Department.

However, disposal of solid waste (trash/garbage) is handled by
the local municipality or governmental body (county).

The EPA has a variety of documents available about solid waste.

So does the state EPD, as enabled through Georgia Legislation:

Existing Rules and Corresponding Laws.

So, where does this leave us?
See next post.

-gretchen

Got trash? Need disposal? Good luck.


So, as David Rodock reported this morning in the VDT
solid waste management
was a discussion topic for Lowndes County Commissioners,
even though it wasn’t on yesterday’s

work session agenda.

Interesting that a meeting was held after the work session.
I was at the work session, camera in hand, and you can see what
transpired there with talk of the
jail ,
the possibility of

Sunday alcohol package sales,
oh and the

animal shelter
all during the County Manager’s Reports.

Nothing has been said (in public) about solid waste disposal since the
public meetings where the pubic was told by Chairman Rod Casey and
County Manager Pritchard
that the county staff had “examined every option” and there was nothing
that the public could possibly suggest that hadn’t already been considered.

The proposed plan

(VDT Article August 29, 2008 Lowndes County’s proposed solid waste plan in effect Jan 1)

was basically curbside
collection (where no vendor could meet the proposed price cap suggested by the county)
and what we ended up with was
pay for drop off permits

(VDT Article May 13, 2009 Solid waste disposal permits now available).

Joe Pritchard remembers those meetings like this
(Update 25 Sept 2013 to add reference, “Commissioners want Lowndes out of the trash business” by David Rodock in the VDT 24 May 2011):

“I went through eight public meetings, better described as floggings, where the public just vented every ounce of frustration they ever had relating to solid waste over that time period,” said Joe Pritchard, county manager. “That was not a pleasant process. Yes, we need to come up with a way of notifying the public, but I’m here to tell you, that public meetings is not it.”

So, the problem (disposing of garbage costs money) still exists and the county
has known that for years. Yet, here we are on the cusp of a crisis again and
Commissioner Raines says

“My mind’s made up and I’m willing to call an emergency meeting tonight if we need to”

Why hasn’t the county been soliciting input during these two years that they
knew the system was out of balance? Why must everything be a crisis?

-Gretchen