Louisa Supervisors support county’s continued funding of Household Hazardous Waste Day

Louisa Administrator Christian Goodwin told the Board of Supervisors on December 2, 2024, that a program at the county landfill to accept household hazardous waste has been a success, but the cost of the two-day a year program is increasing.

Louisa County spent just over $60,000 to hire a contractor to dispose of the material in 2019 with the cost per vehicle around $80. That has increased in 2024 to nearly $160,000 in total cost and $258 per vehicle.

“People are either bringing more things or more expensive things and really just wanted to draw the board’s attention to this because the cost has increased over the years,” Goodwin said.

Materials accepted include paints, bleaches, and other liquid products as well as electronic waste. For more details, visit the Louisa County website.

Goodwin said covering the cost for the citizens could be seen as a cost of doing business as materials might otherwise be disposed of incorrectly. Many materials can damage landfills if they end up there, or they can cause environmental harm if they’re just dumped.

“Certainly another school of thought would be that, you know, the Board might wish to control these costs by putting some type of, you know, limit and say, well, you can only bring this number of things and that number, this weight of those things,” Goodwin said.

Currently Louisa participates in a state contract but wants to put out a bid for a firm to provide the services based on the county’s specifications. He wanted to know if Supervisors had any direction.

Supervisor Rachel Jones of the Green Springs District said the county should continue to invest in the service.

“In a district that has the historic district, I routinely see large items that probably would be accepted on these days. I think I would see more of them,” Jones said.

Supervisor Tommy Barlow of the Mountain Road District agreed and supported the idea of putting the service out to bid to see if another vendor could bring in lower costs. Cuckoo District Supervisor Christopher McCotter noted that there are long lines when the events are held in April and October.

Goodwin said in addition to putting the project out to bid, the county will continue to look for grants to offset costs.

“The landfill, while some may not look at it in such a way, is definitely an asset to the citizens and one that we very carefully manage,” Goodwin said.

For more information on solid waste in Louisa County, visit the appropriate website.

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