The Company
The Peddlers of the Dump
The proposed 130 EP dump is already becoming the largest structure in Caldwell County, 17 stories tall. And it’s already changed owners even before it’s finally built. Politicians in Caldwell County remain silent. In fact, they’ve committed political negligence by making their citizens fight the dump without lifting a finger to help. The politicians won’t tell you the truth about 130 Environmental Park, but we will.
Who are CTR and IWSG?
Integrated Waste Solutions Group
Integrated Waste Solutions Group (IWSG) doesn’t own a single dump. They’re a Florida based company that will be merging with Central Texas Refuse, the company responsible for picking up trash in Lockhart currently and for the past 30 years.
IWSG was formed in 2017 by Charles C. Appleby and Christopher R. Beall. Appleby and Beall worked together at Advanced Disposal Services, Inc., a company we’ve linked to environmental spills, fires, and safety violations all over the country.
The company has moved into offices that formerly housed Green Group Holdings (GGH) in downtown Lockhart, just across from the Caldwell County courthouse. The company will take over Central Texas Refuse and their contracts in Lockhart. GGH will still be a small part of the deal. You’ll still see Green Group executives David Green and Alfonso Sifuentes. It was Green who just ignored efforts by Caldwell County residents to add safety features to protect the people who live near 130 Environmental Park.
IWSG won’t even have to give a penny to any of the small towns in Caldwell County that thought they would at least get paid for the dangers that come with a mountain of trash.
Central Texas Refuse
Central Texas Refuse provides trash and recycling services for Pflugerville, Austin, Round Rock, San Marcos, Lockhart, and a number of other central Texas cities. CTR has served the Austin area and Central Texas since 1981.
Silence in Lockhart
For 32 years the city of Lockhart has used the same company, Central Texas Refuse, to pick up trash in the city. No other company has even had the chance to compete for taxpayer dollars. Now, Mayor Lew White and the majority of Lockhart City Council want to make sure there’s no competition this time.
Watch Alfonso Sifuentes of Central Texas Refuse and Jay Howard of Texas Disposal Systems make their cases.
Lockhart City Council members had choices in November 2020, to renegotiate the terms or open up the contract.
See how they voted.
Four months later and with the contract set to expire at the end of March 2021, no deal had been made. Why did Mayor Lew White seem so determined to stick with Central Texas Refuse?
Even after negotiations failed to reach a deal, the city council voted to extend the negotiations by 2 months rather than letting companies compete.
Watch the tortured city council at the March 16, 2021 meeting.
Taxpayers have a right to see this document. It is a proposal from Texas Disposal Systems for the City of Lockhart’s solid waste contract.
Green Group Gets Dumped
The names have changed, but the fight goes on.
In 2017, the Caldwell County engineer warned the planned Green Group dump would endanger an already high hazard dam right next door. He warned it was too close to a flood plain. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality didn’t listen and issued a permit anyway.
Three years later, politicians in Caldwell County have now done an about face, paving the way for the dump they claimed was so dangerous. But, before it is even built, the owners of the permit have changed.
Green Group no longer owns the permit. The companies planned invasion of Texas was a failure. Defeat in Waller County and Laredo. All the work of a citizens group in Lockhart to convince the company to improve their safety plans was a waste of time.
Now the company has sold the biggest share of the permit to a totally different company, IWSG.
Maybe it was the plan all along.