Superior Court hears more testimony in Gwinnett waste disposal case

Testimony will continue in Gwinnett County Superior Court today in the case of two haulers seeking an injunction to stop the county from implementing its new solid waste collection program.

The big question: If Judge Michael C. Clark grants the injunction, what happens to garbage collection in Gwinnett County?

The new solid waste program is scheduled to begin Jan. 2. It calls for two companies to have exclusive rights to serve the nearly 180,000 households in unincorporated Gwinnett. Some of the eight private haulers who currently serve these residential customers already have begun collecting bins and shutting down operations.

Will Flower, spokesman for Republic Services, the county’s largest residential hauler, said his company is ready to continue without a hitch.

“It’s an easy fix,” he said. “You can go on to a short-term contract, and I’m confident we would work with the county to ensure waste would get picked up.”

A merger this week gave Republic 90,000 Gwinnett customers by combining its subsidiary, Robertson Sanitation, with Allied Waste Services.

Flower said a bigger issue has to do with the contract that was awarded under the new program and the process by which it was done.

“It was originally stated that no hauler would have more than three districts, and there were eight districts originally,” he said. “In a smoke-filled room, behind closed doors, in the shadows of where bad decisions are made, the lines were redrawn.”

Attorneys are expected to call Connie Wiggins, executive director of the private, nonprofit Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, to speak on her agency’s administration of that process. Wiggins spent much of Wednesday on the stand, answering queries from attorney Roy Barnes, who represents the plaintiffs, Southern Sanitation and Sanitation Solutions.

Attorneys for Gwinnett County and GC&B have argued that the program was established lawfully and that an injunction would place trash service in limbo.

Barnes has argued the county had no business turning over operation of waste disposal to a private corporation. He further argues enforcement of the program, which includes fines for those who violate the solid waste ordinance, cannot be placed in the hands of a non-governmental agency.