The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners just after noon Monday voted down the proposed $32.6-million contract for the refurbishment of the county’s defunct incinerator.
Commissioner Jonathan Barfield had made a motion to approve the contract, which would have set up landfill tipping fees potentially upward of $90 per ton to support the expense, but after Chairman Ted Davis spent several minutes voicing his concerns about the contract the board ended up with a 3-2 vote against.
Only Commissioner Jason Thompson voted with Barfield.
The vote throws into question the future of solid waste disposal in New Hanover County, as the point of the incinerator’s refurbishment–to be handled by waste-to-energy conversion business Covanta Energy–was to consume trash that otherwise would fill the county’s cramped landfill off U.S. 421. It has, roughly, just six years of permitted space left and an effort underway to expand the landfill onto an adjacent 90 acres has years ahead of it.
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