The Haines Borough Solid Waste Working Group may recommend the borough take over solid waste management from the private company that now provides collection and disposal.

“That’s a big step, it’s one I would certainly support, but it’s a big, directional shift from what we’re doing now and it’s a big recommendation,” said group chair Margaret Friedenauer.

Support for the idea came at the group’s meeting May 18, following several meetings about how other communities handle solid waste, discussion of the condition of the local landfill and statements supporting more community control of waste.

Friedenauer triggered the discussion as she pressed the group for consensus on May 18 for pursuing a solid waste management plan, the group’s original goal.

“The primary question of how to go forward at all is whether or not we want solid waste management to be borough-operated or continue with one private entity and a nonprofit, or a combination thereof,” Friedenauer said. “To me that just seems like the biggest question that I can’t answer, and I feel like deciding that would point us in a direction.”

Group member Darsie Culbeck supported the borough taking over waste management.

“I think the right thing to do…it should be done by the borough. It should be a utility,” Culbeck said. “This landfill has been a cause of concern for a long time; it’s not getting better. I think that it’s the right thing to do in the long range, that the borough run transfer stations and ship most of your stuff out of here.”

Culbeck said in the long-term, residents should pay some sort of utility or tax for garbage service. “I know that’s a politically hard place to go…If we don’t make the hard choice now, some of us won’t be here in 20 years, but we’ll still be in the same place until the borough steps up and says ‘We’re going to do this.’”

Group member Norm Smith agreed, and said the waste issue is at a standstill if the private provider, Community Waste Solutions, does not conform to regulations.

Interim borough manager Brad Ryan said the borough can apply to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to buy out CWS at a fair market value. The borough would have to negotiate the purchase.

“We’re working fine with CWS, but there’s a bigger problem,” Ryan said. “What do you do at 25 Mile (where illegal dumping occurs)? If you told me tomorrow I was running it, I would call Rebanco and I would figure out somewhere to put a big covered dumpster out there… There’s options,” he said.

In a separate interview, CWS owner Tom Hall said he “wouldn’t necessarily say no” if the borough wanted to negotiate with him. Company representative Sally Garton left the May 18 meeting before discussion of borough-run waste management began.

“I would be prepared to entertain that discussion with the borough,” Hall said. But he added that treating his employees well would be a major factor in discussion.

Smith was in support of buying out CWS, and said the former Haines City Council had the same discussion more than 17 years ago.

Group member Phil Reeves suggested the borough get a bailer to make it more cost effective to ship waste, or implement fines for people who still dump garbage illegally under the transfer station model. Melissa Aronson suggested the borough ship waste out to a larger, drier landfill, which would limit leaching, and contract with Haines Friends of Recycling to continue a recycling program.

Friedenauer said the group should stick to a broader statement and work out the details after they get the “blessing of the assembly.”

“Heading toward this doesn’t bind us to anything at all,” Friedenauer said. “We’re just saying, ‘Let’s check into it’ or ‘Should we check into it?’”

The group will craft a recommendation to the assembly to have the borough explore taking over solid waste management at its next meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 1 at the library.