Lane County says it has lost more than $5 million in fees from waste hauler Sanipac exporting waste to its parent company’s southern Oregon landfill. That’s left the county short on the funds it needs to operate its 15 transfer stations.
Haulers normally pay fees when they drop off waste at the Short Mountain Landfill just south of Eugene. County staff believe Sanipac has been hauling trash from Springfield and potentially some other small communities to a landfill outside Medford instead.
County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky told commissioners Tuesday that if the county doesn’t find a way to preserve transfer stations, they’ll see an increase in illegal dumping, and more hazardous chemicals could end up in local water systems.
"We hear the concern from the private sector that they want a cost that is more competitive,” Mokrohisky said. “They're forcing that to be the case and so we're willing to say well we need to step up to do that in order to maintain the system and avoid a complete collapse."
Sanipac, which was previously locally-owned, is now one of several Oregon waste haulers owned by Waste Connections, one of the largest waste management companies in the country. A few of its other companies include EcoSort, County Transfer & Recycling in Florence, and Rogue Disposal & Recycling, which operates Dry Creek Landfill near Medford.
At their meeting Tuesday, commissioners authorized county staff to continue conversations about the disagreement with Waste Connections, research potential cuts to waste services, and explore regulating trash haulers in unincorporated Lane county and lowering fees to make its landfill more competitive.
If the county does choose to lower fees at the landfill, it could result in lower garbage rates for everyone, but service cutbacks elsewhere.
The potential regulations could include franchising – that’s when a government chooses what businesses are allowed to offer a service in their area. It also can allow the government to approve rates, or require haulers to meet minimum standards or other criteria, like requiring all waste to be disposed of in Lane County’s landfill.
Eugene franchises multiple haulers, allowing them to compete for customers. Springfield has a franchise agreement with just one residential hauler, Sanipac.
In a letter, Sanipac urged the county to delay and conduct a study, saying a planned food waste diversion facility, the CleanLane project, and poor planning were to blame.
A coalition of haulers that operate in Lane County, including Sanipac, also wrote a letter raising similar concerns.
They argued they shouldn’t be punished for "inefficient management” at transfer facilities, that the suggested reduction in fees was designed specifically to coerce Sanipac, and regulating haulers may not fix the county’s budget problems.
“While we recognize that other Willamette Valley counties have adopted franchising, Lane County's open-market approach has also delivered reliable, affordable service for decades—an outcome that should be weighed carefully in any comparative analysis,” the group wrote.
Lane County raised tipping fees – what haulers pay when they drop off waste at the landfill – to pay for the CleanLane food waste and recycling diversion project. Haulers widely opposed the increased fees. Some, including Sanipac and the Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association, raised legal objections against it when the county tried to get zoning changed to site the project in the Goshen area south of Springfield.
County Commissioner David Loveall, whose district includes Springfield, said he was skeptical of the options provided by county staff, specifically franchising or other regulations, saying he was worried those ideas were essentially penalizing private companies for engaging in capitalism.
“I don't see this plan succeeding,” Loveall said. “I see us throwing a lot of blame out there and a lot of finger-pointing, when maybe we need to come back and have some serious discussions about if our model going forward is sustainable.”
East Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch, who supported exploring franchising or other regulations, said she was concerned about bargaining with Waste Connections without efforts to try to recover unpaid fees.
“They are shorting the taxpayers of Lane County money that would otherwise be used for services,” Buch said. “That's not something I'm willing to look the other way for.“
