Solid Waste Advisory Committee

Brian Doyle of Yamhill County's Solid Waste Advisory Committee has called on the Committee to play a larger role in landfill matters. Over the past year and a half, while Riverbend Landfill was pressing its case for doubling the amount of waste it can legally dump on the South Yamhill River, SWAC was ordered to play only a tiny, peripheral role, commenting on the projected appearance of the expanded dump. County officials and SWAC's own waste disposal industry members refused to let the Committee comment on the reasonableness of landfilling waste at this point in time, let alone the merits of Riverbend's specific proposal.

When SWAC was asked by the County to oversee the Zia study, which looked at alternative solid waste disposal methods, SWAC-developed criteria were ignored by the final Zia Report and the County Board of Commissioners didn't even ask SWAC or its members for their comments or recommendations.

Now SWAC member Doyle has suggested that SWAC become more proactive with regard to landfill issues. His proposal will be debated at the SWAC meeting scheduled for January 20, 2010, at 4:00 pm in Room 32 in the basement of the Yamhill County Courthouse, at 5th and Evans in McMinnville.