Horry County’s landfill could grow significantly. Here’s what you need to know.
The Horry County Solid Waste Authority, which operates the county’s only landfill, has applied for a permit with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to expand significantly.
The expansion, dubbed “piggyback phase three” — referring to the way the landfill stacks new waste mounds next to and partially on top of existing mounds — would consist of 42.8 new acres of waste that DHEC has not previously permitted. The Solid Waste Authority is currently working to fill an additional 20 acres of open space. As currently permitted, the landfill could last until 2043, according to the authority’s permit application filed in October.
The expansion would not require the waste authority to extend its borders but it would add additional tons of waste to the facility. The piggyback expansion would require the landfill to construct new, lined waste space with filtration infrastructure installed. Currently, for example, the waste authority collects water that filters through waste mounds and sends it to a water treatment facility. It also collects methane gas from its waste and uses it to generate electricity.
To discuss the proposed expansion, the waste department is hosting a public meeting Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the agency’s administrative offices along S.C. 90, outside of Conway.
The piggyback expansion will add significant capacity to the waste authority landfill. Currently, the landfill collects 265,000 tons of waste per year. The expansion will extend the life the landfill by eight years, from 2043 to 2051, and allow the landfill to eventually collect up to 750,000 tons of waste per year.
The proposed expansion has already raised concerns with some residents who live along S.C. 90.
And the waste authority is no stranger to controversy, and has been the subject of numerous political fights throughout its existence. Most recently, a whistleblower claimed that water contaminated with E.coli bacteria was seeping into nearby swamps from the landfill, though county officials and local scientists found no evidence to support those claims.
