Lane County is losing millions of dollars as waste haulers are opting to export trash to a landfill near Medford instead of the county-managed Short Mountain Landfill.
Waste Connections Inc., a Texas-based corporation, is responsible for most of the county’s loss of $5.2 million in fee revenue during the last fiscal year, county records show. The company has been hauling to its privately owned landfill in Jackson County instead of the county’s Short Mountain Landfill.
The losses are forcing the county to look at ways to stop waste from making its way south to Jackson County and instead enter the Short Mountain site — and keep a broader Lane County-run waste management system financially afloat. When haulers bring their trash to Lane County’s landfill, they pay fees that feed into the county’s solid waste disposal fund. The fund relies upon those fees and does not receive tax dollars…