It’s a service all county residents use, whether they’re all aware of it or not. For the past nearly four years, Anson County has contracted with Waste Connections for its landfill services.

With the exception of the town of Morven, all of the municipalities in Anson County have their trash hauled to the landfill near Polkton, which is operated by Waste Connections. Morven contracts with a commercial trash hauling service that does not deliver its refuse to the landfill.

“The contractor has brought waste from the town of Morven in the past,” explained Tim Fadul, Waste Connections, Inc., division vice president. “They currently are not.”

Waste Connections is the fourth largest waste management company in the United States, and has been Anson County’s waste management provider since May of 2009. “We look at our relationship with the county as, we’re partnered with the county, if you will,” Fadul said. “We value our relationship with the county and its residents.”

That’s not to say that just because of the good working relationship between Waste Connections and Anson County, all of the waste in Anson County’s landfill is from within the county. “We have accounts with probably every commercial refuse hauler in a several-county area,” Fadul said. “We’re actually allowed to accept waste from out-of-state.”

Currently, Waste Connections receives waste at the Anson County landfill from a six-county area, including Anson, Union and Richmond counties in North Carolina, and Chesterfield and Lancaster counties in South Carolina. Waste Connections has a third-party contract with the town of Stallings, which also brings its trash to Anson County. There’s a waste transfer station in Union County, as well, that brings its trash to the Anson landfill.

All of these other municipalities and counties bringing waste to Anson may cause some citizens concern that the landfill could run out of room. “It’s really not a question of room,” Fadul said. “We have a permitted number of tons we can take in annually. We have a set volume we will not exceed in 2013, and we’re not anywhere near that.”

Anson County operates six convenience centers, open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays that will accept residential trash and recycling, utilities director Mike Sessions said. Those sites are Gatewood Station (between Wadesboro and Morven), White Store, Burnsville, Lilesville, Ansonville and the landfill.

Although the landfill recently ceased accepting motor oil for disposal, the service is scheduled to start up again by April 1, County Manager Lawrence Gatewood said.

“We discontinued taking used oil for several months because the oil was becoming contaminated with other liquids,” Fadul explained. “In having conversations with [Gatewood] and [Sessions], we found we are able to take it again. It’s just involves us monitoring it much more closely.”

District manager David Jones said a small building has been built at the landfill convenience center to have a person there during business hours to assist with accepting the used oil. “We’ve modified the tank to be more convenient for customers, too,” Jones added. Other liquids can be accepted only if they are solidified or air-dried, Fadul pointed out.

Literature on the correct way to drop off waste oil at the landfill or convenience centers will be handed out to customers, Fadul said.

Sessions and Gatewood are also working on an educational program for the county’s fifth-graders to encourage recycling. “It’s all about education,” Sessions said.