Trash yields treasure, landfill pays its way

After years of losses, Walker County’s landfill profited from waste in June.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time in many, many, many years,” Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said. “I would say it would be safe to say — probably 16 and a half years — that there has been any record or knowledge that after a full load of deprecation and post closure expense that the landfill has actually shown a net profit”

The county financial report shows the facility on Marble Top Road reported a profit of nearly $6,700 for June 2017 compared to having lost about $39,000 for the same month the previous year.

Whitfield, who assumed duties of commissioner in January following his successful bid to unseat 16-year incumbent Bebe Heiskell, had stressed cutting landfill losses during his campaign.

Landfill manager Paine Gilleywith turning the landfill around in just three months time at being on the job.

Whitfield said he was thankful Gilley was “on board and part of this team” and he was very impressed with the outcome and results.

“We have had a successful month and — hopefully — we can keep that trend going if we don’t have any major breakdowns, or uhoh’s, or hiccups or anything which could happen to any business,” Whitfield said. “But at least we are getting to the point of getting this operational to a profitable standpoint and that is a huge accomplishment.”