Community Waste Solutions owner Tom Hall proposed two options to the Haines Borough Solid Waste Working Group for future management of Haines’ garbage: contract with CWS or buy out the company.

“One decision has to be made from these two things: Either you develop a long-term contract with us, tell us what you want done and participate and help us make it happen as a company, or the community buys CWS facilities and equipment,” Hall said Tuesday.

“I’m here to move forward. Whether I move it forward or you do, my (top) recommendation would be to figure out a way,” he said.

Hall spoke to the group for the first time Tuesday following its request to hear about the future of his company. Hall said he wasn’t there to “hash out” past issues but instead share his vision for community waste management.

Hall said he invested over $500,000 in the last three years in new equipment, including a baler, conveyor lines, a bag breaker, sort-lines and a shredder, to be installed and running by September.

The equipment will be contained inside a building to eliminate loose waste blown by wind. To deter animals, waste bales of garbage that doesn’t compost will be placed in large tarp bags for burial.

CWS also paid $200,000 to acquire Acme Transfer’s permit to accept trash, he said.

Hall said CWS also plans to upgrade its composting system to meet EPA regulations and plans to increase recycling by 10 percent each year for the next three years. About 40 to 50 percent of municipal solid waste that comes to CWS is recyclable, Hall said.

Hall said his reasons for investing were to improve landfill conditions and prepare for future opportunities to take in more waste from Skagway.

Hall said CWS reaps “a sizable profit” from taking in inert construction waste from Skagway.

Whether the borough decides to buy CWS or work with the company, Hall said it is important to him to keep local jobs and money in Haines instead of shipping out garbage to a landfill in the Lower 48. He also favors borough regulation of garbage rates as opposed to regulation by the state regulatory commission.

Sandra Woods, an environmental program specialist with the Department of Environmental Conservation, answered questions telephonically about the condition of the CWS landfill on FAA Road.

Woods said CWS has been “spotty” in completing surface water testing required twice a year in its permit. When new group chair Darsie Culbeck asked about enforcement for permit violations, Woods said the DEC does not have the authority to charge fines or close a landfill.

But CWS received 91 percent evaluation ratings in 2014 and 2016.

“Sometimes I’ve come out and everything has been great…and other times when there were problems with litter being everywhere and it was an all-around mess,” Woods said.

She said baling waste will be an improvement, and she is working with CWS staff to bury and cover waste more frequently. There have been recent complaints about exposed garbage attracting animals.

“We haven’t by any stretch been perfect,” Hall said.

When asked how she thought the group should move forward, Woods said “I would like to see CWS and the city come together and take care of your solid waste.”

Group member Burl Sheldon said hearing from Hall and Woods brought him perspective, and the group is making progress after months of meetings. Sheldon is a founder of Haines Friends of Recycling and worked as a consultant for CWS.

In May, the group considered making a recommendation to the assembly for the borough to acquire CWS and take full responsibility for solid waste.

“We are better off having a strong partnership with this contract,” Sheldon said. “I personally want to see it in code, and I do think there are waste-management related ordinances that will have to be developed and passed in order for this new evolving system to work.”

Sheldon said although the landfill is privately owned, the community should be good stewards to ensure its longevity.

When asked what elements he’d like to see in a contract between CWS and the borough, Sheldon said it’s premature to determine.

Hall said he would share with the group in the next month what he would like to see in a contract with the borough.

The working group will discuss Sheldon’s idea of transfer station-centered waste management at its next meeting on Thursday, July 13.