Permit to build new Greenville Co. trash facility approved, residents outraged

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A trash transfer facility will be built along Highway 124 in Greenville County.

The Department of Environmental Services (DES) approved a permit from Greater Greenville Sanitation to build the facility last week.

More than a dozen people gathered for a meeting with DES Thursday to explain why they do not support the facility being built.

“This is a low-income area,” a resident said. “We have a very unfair burden of toxins from other nearby businesses. Nothing has been done to establish baseline testing on water, soil or water.”

“I don’t think you should have ever even fielded this permit,” David Davis said.

Residents have been working to stop the facility from being built for years. They worry it will harm the environment and their loved ones.

“We are seeing an unwarranted precedent and emergence of cancer, not just cancer but other respiratory illnesses specifically,” Kimberly Rush said. “We’re seeing a lot of people get sick, and yet no one can seem to give us a definitive explanation.”

According to DES, Greater Greenville Sanitation has agreed to follow stricter guidelines because residents have been voicing their concerns. Those guidelines include not accepting ash, not leaving trash on the floor overnight and cleaning the facility’s floors at least once every two weeks among others.

“Showing up at meetings, holding meetings, talking to their local elected officials and state officials like me absolutely worked,” said State Representative Chandra Dillard, who represents District 23.

DES also said the agency plans to review its decades-old regulations for transfer stations because of these residents’ concerns.

“That’s another big win because they were not even thinking about looking at the regulations until this meeting,” Dillard said.

Residents have until September 15 to file an appeal stating why the facility should not be built.

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