A rail to landfill transfer station may be located in Brundidge.

Brundidge City Manager Willie Wright said the project was still in the early stages of development and a lot of details remained to be worked out. Wright said a third party was considering purchasing what was once the Green Valley Chipper Mill property and locating a transfer station there.

Wright said the property consisted of about 88 acres with the third party considering purchasing 70 acres. About one-third of the land was owned by the City of Brundidge and the remaining two-thirds was owned by the Brundidge Industrial Development Board. The City of Brundidge brought the proposal to the IDB Board about the company being interested in the purchase of the land for the purpose of Transfer Station.

According to Wright, the City of Brundidge held a Public Hearing about a third-party company being interested in leasing the Landfill and possibly purchasing property in the City of Brundidge. He said the public hearing drew a standing room only crowd. Wright said the city understood that people were concerned because garbage could possibly be brought in on rail.

Wright said the City of Brundidge and Coffee County formed a Joint Authority. With the forming of the Joint Authority, the City of Brundidge and Coffee County worked out an agreement with this company to rent the landfill for 20 years. The agreement ensures that no Hazardous waste could enter the Brundidge Landfill.

The city and Coffee County will split a royalty fee of $2.50 a ton. So, for each ton that enters the landfill the city will get $1.25. Wright said the only waste that is allowed into the landfill under this agreement is Household Waste, the same waste residents roll out to the streets on Thursday.

The way the proposed project would work is the garbage would be transported to Brundidge on the CSX railroad, said Wright. The third-party company will have to have a permit with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. CSX will also monitor very heavily what is transported along with state environmental agencies.

Once in Brundidge, the garbage would be offloaded onto transfer trucks and transported to the landfill. Wright said the containers could not be opened until at the landfill.

Wright said the transfer station would be owned and operated by a third party. He said he couldn’t release the name of the third party because of ongoing negotiations.

The transfer station would be located along Railroad Avenue in Brundidge. He said the CSX railroad runs parallel to Railroad Avenue with the old chipper mill property on the west side of the rail line.

Railroad Avenue continues north and connects to Southern Classic and Magnolia Vegetable Processors. The portion of Railroad Avenue south of Wood Road to 4th Avenue is unpaved.

Wright said the third party had agreed to pave the dirt portion of Railroad Avenue to meet city specifications. He said, if the project comes to fruition, the garbage will leave Railroad Ave and pass Dickert Lumber Yard, stopping at the stop sign of Railroad Ave and College Street. It will then continue through the stop sign to East Troy Street, make a right on East Troy and continue to U.S. Highway 231. Once at U.S. Highway 231, it will make a left onto Hwy 231 and get off a Clean Water Drive.

On the return route, trucks leave Cleanwater Drive, get onto U.S. Highway 231 and exit on Veterans Boulevard before continuing to the stop sign of Veterans Boulevard and Alabama Highway 93, which is located next to Piggy Wiggy. It will turn left and go to Magnolia Boulevard and take a right, back to the old chipper mill property.

In order to transfer the garbage from rail to truck, Wright said the third party would have to build a rail spur off the CSX line as well as a gondola crane to move the containers from the rail car to the transfer trucks.

Wright said the transfer station would only operate Monday through Friday. He said some Saturday transfers might be needed in case there was inclement weather during the week.

“We want to make sure that citizens are aware that these containers won’t be opened until they reach the landfill,” Wright said. “The transfer station is only a staging area that the garbage will pass through on the way to the landfill. The container will only be carrying MSW, there will be no Hazardous Materials on site.”