Burgaw — On Monday Pender County Emergency Management Director Tom Collins addressed the large piles of house debris on U.S. 53 just northeast of Burgaw near the Northeast Cape Fear River.
“So much of what’s being dumped on 53 is being dumped illegally. Most of that didn’t come from the residents around here,” Collins said.
Local resident Jeff Rivenbark, who lives beside one of the large debris piles along U.S. 53, said the roadside debris buildup occurred when people began clearing their homes of flood-damaged possessions.
“People started cleaning out there personal belongings and everything that was wet and putting it along the road, hoping the county was gonna pick it up,” Rivenbark said.
DRC Emergency Services, the company contracted by Pender County, has removed more than 460,000 cubic yards of vegetative debris and 81,000 cubic yards of construction demolition (C&D) debris throughout the county as of Friday, according to Collins. He expects the total to exceed 600,000 cubic yards by the end of Monday.
“That’s mountains [of debris],” Collins said.
The lengthy nature of the process derives from several factors, according to Collins. First is the “tremendous amount of C&D” debris post-Florence, where flooding occurred near the Black River on the east side of the county and near the Northeast Cape Fear River in the middle of the county.
Second is the illegal dumping taking place, which requires DRC to spend more time and resources to sort the debris that it picks up.
Collins said that many residents are hiring smaller companies to remove C&D debris, but instead of taking the debris to nearby landfills as promised, the trucks are dumping it on the side of the road during the night. He urged residents to initially pay half the amount required, and only when the driver presents a receipt from the landfill should they complete the payment.
“It’s hard to police; we don’t have the manpower … In a roundabout way, these residents end up paying for it twice,” Collins said, noting that DRC services not covered by FEMA comes from taxpayers’ pockets.
The third major reason causing the lengthy county-wide removal is the process behind vegetative removal: after picking up and reducing the debris, DRC must reduce, grind, resize, and transform it into pellets to sell for fuel.
Collins said the county is currently looking for property in Hampstead for people to purchase these pallets because the current site, where numerous trucks enter and exit, is too dangerous for people to drive to.
Although much of the C&D debris can be legally brought to the side of the road, Collins said this does not include an entire home or structure that is torn down and piled up alongside the road.
He also said that, in order for the county to be reimbursed by FEMA and thus avoid using taxpayers’ money for debris collection — a process closely monitored by FEMA — residents must be careful about sorting vegetative debris and C&D debris.
Ultimately, Collins understands the road ahead will be long and difficult.
“We still have a lot of debris being picked up, still a lot of hurting people. We’re trying our best to find help for them,” Collins said.
Mark Darrough can be reached at Mark@localvoicemedia.com
