Chairman: Council will vote on Darlington County yellow bags June 6
While Darlington County Council’s budget figures proposed for the coming year currently reflect the continuation of the county’s so-called yellow bag program for solid waste disposal, Chairman Billy Baldwin said the yellow bag issue is not over and he said council will vote on whether to keep the program or scrap it at its regular meeting on June 6.
Baldwin said Tuesday that a vote on what to do with yellow bag program will be on the agenda for that meeting. “I think it’s time to vote it up or down,” he said. “I think the people of Darlington County are entitled to know where their council members stand on the yellow bags, and I think the way to do that is to vote on it.”
Baldwin said he does not know how a vote will go. “I can’t say if they’ll get rid of it or if they’ll keep it,” he said.
He declined to say whether or how council may replace the revenue generated by the program if the program is discontinued.
“I will say this, if we’re going to do away with it, we’re going to have to rely on the people of Darlington County to continue to recycle,” Baldwin said.
“I think it’s good for people to know that we are considering it. And I would also say that I’d like for people to contact their council member before the next meeting and tell them what they think,” he said.
Proposed budget figures presented during a budget work session for council on Monday reflect the continuation of the program, County Administrator Dale Surrett said. Council took no action on the budget or the yellow bag program and has previously taken no action on the program, though members have debated keeping it versus doing away with it.
Several council members have called for the elimination of the program, which requires consumers to purchase specially designated plastic yellow trash bags for disposal of household garbage through the county’s solid waste program. The program is designed to encourage recycling. The thinking behind the program was that if households had to buy the bags, they would recycle more to avoid having to buy as many of the bags.
Lamar Councilman Bobby Hudson has repeatedly called for the elimination of the program. He said the program has not worked and imposes an unnecessary burden on residents. Several other members have voiced a desire to get rid of the program. “It needs to go away,” Councilman Dannie Douglas of Society Hill said during Monday’s work session.
But Councilman Wesley Blackwell has said the county can ill afford to lose the revenue generated by the program, which he puts at more than $500,000. Figures presented by Surrett during May’s regular council meeting put the net profit from the program at $291,500.
Blackwell also has said the program does encourage people to recycle and should be kept for that reason as well.
The June 6 meeting is also when council is scheduled to take its first vote on a new budget when the eight budget ordinances in the package come up for second reading.