The Rhino’s analysis does a good job of following the money in the garbage business. Bottom line is Greensboro’s “losing money on every ton of garbage” dumped at the Burnt Poplar Road transfer station, and the fix appears to be in to ship it to Montgomery County via Republic Waste Services instead of Anson County via Waste Connections, which was the low bidder.
Meanwhile, the Winston-Salem Journal looks into bids for highway stone. No surprise Vulcan and Martin Marietta “dominate the market and charge significantly higher prices for stone products.”
One City of Winston-Salem official said Vulcan and MM are the only quarries that provide DOT-quality stone, but when he was called on that, Assistant City Manager Greg Turner stepped in and said well, they’re the only bidders on the contract.
A Vulcan official said he believed they were getting the business because they were good corporate citizens, which is also the reason cited by Greensboro City Council member Jim Kee when he was asked why Greensboro should subsidize waste haulers.
