Last week, Roger Bail, operations coordinator for the district, explained that the district is currently not in compliance with its five-year solid-waste plan, a fact that the EPA has brought to the attention of each county's board of commissioners.

Bail said that a lack of adequate finances has led to this situation, and advocated the proposal of a $3 generation fee in the district. The district has no generation fee currently.

The district currently charges a fee of $1 per ton for those dumping at the Athens-Hocking Reclamation Center, also known as the Kilbarger landfill near Nelsonville, either from inside the district or from out of state. Those dumping at the landfill from inside the state but outside the waste district pay $2 per ton, Bail said. He added that these fees have not been changed since their creation 17 years ago in 1993.

A generation fee would charge haulers $3 per ton of municipal solid waste generated within the district regardless of where it is dumped. The EPA provided Bail with some figures that show that 68,000 tons of trash are generated within the waste district each year. This means that the $3-per-ton generation fee would bring an additional $204,000 into district coffers annually.

But Kevin Farmer, of Farmer's Refuse & Trucking in Logan, said last week that the district is only out of compliance because it doesn't provide recycling accessibility for 90 percent of residents in the district. It could do so, he said, by setting up drop boxes throughout the two counties.

"You can't run a recycling truck out on a narrow two-way somewhere in the county," he said. "So the only way to come into compliance, and the easy way to come into compliance, is to set up drop boxes."

Farmer questioned why the district is in the trash business in the first place. He said that officials often say that they are in the trash business because recycling doesn't pay for itself and they need the funds to pay for recycling.

"Well, apparently, it's not working, so they can't say that any more," he said. "They wouldn't be in the red, they wouldn't be asking for more money, if that was working."

He said that a generation fee will just throw more money at a system that already doesn't work. The district is facing money problems because of high worker's compensation fees, Farmer pointed out. He said it wouldn't have that expense if it weren't in the trash business.

"They need to just focus on recycling," he said. "The solid-waste district was not set up to have their own trash company."

If the district pulled out of the trash business, it would free up much more money than it could make by creating a generation fee, he said.

Farmer said a representative of the state EPA told him that if the district set up drop boxes it would be in compliance. One argument against drop boxes that has been repeatedly brought up is that residents end up throwing trash into them, not recyclables like they are supposed to. Farmer said that a solution to that problem is putting the drop boxes near safety personnel locations such as police and fire stations.

Not all haulers in the area were willing to criticize the proposal for a generation fee, but they did predict cost increases for their services. Jonathan Kissell, spokesperson for Rumpke Waste Removal, said that his national company has a great working relationship with the district and looks forward to providing services for years to come.

"We also understand that the solid-waste district has its own set of circumstances and decisions it has to make," he said. "If a generation fee is one of them, we will continue to provide the service at the standards that they set."

Kissell acknowledged, however, that such a fee would mean that Rumpke would have to pass that cost along to customers in the form of a price increase.

"That's to help continue the level of service that they've come to expect and deserve," he said.

The district policy committee will meet to discuss plans for the district, including the possible generation fee, this Wednesday.

This is the second time a proposal for a generation fee has been floated this year for the district. If the policy committee decides to go forward with a fee, it will make a motion to do so and send a letter out to various governmental authorities in Athens and Hocking counties. These officials will then have 60 days to support or oppose the measure.

To be implemented, the fee cannot be opposed by either county's board of commissioners, or the city councils of either Athens or Logan, the largest cities in each county.

Earlier this year, Logan City Council opposed the increase, stopping it dead. Seven townships in Hocking County also came out against it. To pass, the measure needs the support of the two biggest cities in each county as well as from political subdivisions representing at least 60 percent of the population in the county.