Spartanburg County is growing, but with more people comes more trash.
The population is projected to increase 11 percent through 2030, sending more waste to private and public landfills in the region.
To help stay ahead of the growth, the Wellford landfill is planning an expansion in 2018.
The expansion is expected to cost $2.8 million and extend the landfill's life by about 25 years, according to Spartanburg County Public Works Director Travis Brown.
"It will be built out in five phases," Spartanburg County Solid Waste Manager Kevin Farmer said. "There are several factors that dictate how and when the landfill is developed."
Farmer said these factors include waste intake, accessibility, costs and operations. The expansion in 2018 will consist of 35 to 40 acres, with a new cell constructed every five years.
The Wellford landfill, which opened in 1977, consists of 420 acres near Little Mountain Road. It accepted 144,610 tons of household garbage in 2016, up from 126,523 tons the year before.
As trash has increased, so too have recycling efforts. The county staffs 17 recycling collection centers, where residents can recycle items such as antifreeze, oil filters, batteries, mixed paper, scrap metal, cooking oil, electronics and tires.
Farmer said the county continually evaluates its program to ensure Spartanburg County residents have access to cost-effective, convenient sites for waste disposal and recycling.
"No counties can be equally compared, because each have variations in structure and operations," Farmer said. "When compared to some other counties with higher populations, we do offer equivalent, or in some cases additional, staffed collection/recycling centers."
In addition to the recycling centers, three cities — Spartanburg, Greer and Landrum — provide curbside pickup for recyclables.
Spartanburg County Recycling Coordinator Jes Swanson said recycling has gradually been increasing. In fiscal 2013-14, the county recycled more than 7,000 tons, which grew to more than 7,500 last year. The sale of those recyclables has generated $860,350 for the county since fiscal 2013-14.
Swanson said as residents have learned more about recycling, more have begun doing it. The county's recycling participation rate is 20 percent, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
For Arnold Mcjimpsey of Spartanburg, recycling has been a way of life for 30 years. Mcjimpsey said he visits the recycling site at Wellford four times every month.
"They have a great thing out here," he said.
Doris Wilcox of Fingerville drives 15 miles to the recycling center in Wellford to carry her household items. She said she'd like to see more recycling centers built in the county.
"We've had higher participation rates and a stronger social media presence, with our posts being shared across the county, and we think that has helped," Swanson said. "Our education programs have also been beneficial. In our opinion, for a majority of folks, there needs to be an incentive."
The county tries to encourage composting yard and household waste by selling 96-gallon compost bins at a reduced price. Swanson said while the percentage of food waste at the Wellford landfill is unknown, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates about 14.5 percent of the average landfill is made up of food waste.
Boosting recycling and composting programs could result in less trash making its way to the landfill.
Looking forward, Brown said the county will continue to evaluate its options on how to handle future landfill growth.
"So many things change in the solid waste industry, so it's hard to say what you're going to do, but it's something you need to think about," he said.
The county's residents are projected to generate more than 500,000 tons of household garbage beginning in 2028, according to the S.C. Budget & Control Board's Office of Research and Statistics. Residents are projected to generate 457,818 tons of trash in 2017, up from 453,740 tons in 2016.
Not all of that trash ends up in Wellford. Other landfills that accept the county's trash are Twin Chimneys in Greenville County, Upstate Regional Landfill in Union County and Anderson Regional Landfill in Anderson County.
Farmer said while the Wellford landfill is permitted to accept up to 260,000 tons of residential waste per year, it averages about 120,000 tons annually.
"The county's business model is different than that of a landfill operated by a private company," Farmer said. "A private facility has one commodity to sell — airspace. So they actively solicit waste so they can sell their commodity for profit. In Spartanburg County, the bulk of the Solid Waste Department's annual revenue is generated through the collection of a landfill user fee, which is assessed on residential property taxes. The county does not actively solicit solid waste, nor does it accept waste generated outside of Spartanburg County."
For now, the state's existing landfills have enough capacity to meet communities' disposal needs, and no new Class 3 landfills — those that accept common household garbage — are anticipated, according to Shelley Robbins, energy and state policy manager for Upstate Forever.
DHEC uses a demonstration of need rule to assess where new landfills can be built. Adopted in 2009, the rule states that in places where there are already two or more Class 3 landfills, another one cannot be built.
The only other Class 3 landfill in Spartanburg County besides Wellford was Waste Management's Palmetto Landfill and Recycling Center, which is in the process of closing and no longer accepting trash.
Robbins said she anticipates composting efforts will continue to grow, especially among commercial businesses. Atlas Organics currently provides composting services to county businesses and to residents for a monthly fee.
Robbins said legislation to encourage recycling could also help. For example, if the state approved a 2-cents per bottle deposit, similar to what several northeast states have, it could encourage more people to recycle, she said.
1. Mixed paper/cardboard: 2,914.56 tons
2. Scrap Metal: 1,742.12 tons
3. Commingled: 1,149.75 tons
4. Tires: 984.64 tons
5. Electronic waste: 520.66 tons
Top items recycled in Spartanburg County (fiscal 2015-16):