RINCON — A group of citizens from two counties recently joined forces to shout “No!” in an emphatic voice. Their megaphone was a private Facebook page entitled “Effingham County, Georgia Residents Against Proposed Landfill.”

“As of today, the group has hit about 1,600 members,” said 18-year-old Screven County resident Ben Mincey, the page administrator. “We now have more members than the anti-landfill group over in Screven County did.”

On April 9, Ben Wall of Atlantic Waste filed an application for a landfill. The proposed site was on a 1,603-acre piece of property in Effingham County Commission District 3 that stretches from Old Louisville Road to the Ogeechee River.

“We had just dealt with this here in Screven County,” Mincey said. “This new proposed site was only two miles from the Screven County line so we got involved. We had several other contacts in Effingham County and that’s sort of how this group got started.”

Wall aimed to build a landfill in Screven County in 2020 but that plan was rejected after several months of public resistance and legal maneuvering. The resistance included an 1,100-member Facebook group and Ogeechee Riverkeeper, an organization whose mission is to “protect, preserve and improve the water quality of the Ogeechee River basin.” 

Approval of the Effingham County application would have required changes to zoning laws. The proposed site is currently zoned AR-1 (agricultural residential, five acres or more), which doesn’t allow for landfills.

Commissioners, however, were set to consider an AR-1 conditional-use proposal but it drew fierce public backlash. Led by District 3’s Jamie Deloach, they agreed during an April 20 meeting to not consider any AR-1 changes.

The landfill application was withdrawn a few days later.

“It was kind of interesting how quickly this was defeated,” said Mincey, noting that the Screven County battle lasted more than a year. “... I don’t think (Wall) wanted to go down the path in Effingham  when it looked even more bleak than it did in Screven County.”

 The Facebook groups in both counties orchestrated campaigns to inform elected officials of their landfill opposition through phone calls, emails, texts, yard signs and t-shirts. Their pages remain active as the members urge each other remain vigilant.

“We believe the landfill is dead in the water but we would still like for people to keep an eye on their local government,” Mincey said. “They need to ask tough questions and make sure they know what is going on in their community because this almost snuck in without us knowing.”

Mincey, who attended the May 18 commission workshop, is pleased that Effingham County’s commissioners were responsive to his group’s pleas.

“I think they listened to us, especially Mr. Deloach,” Mincey said. “He was clear that he was not going to be for the landfill.”

Mincey’s political activities extend beyond the landfill issue.

“I worked for Max Burns for State Senate campaign,” he said. “His district is up in Screven County, Jenkins County and on up into Evans and Grovetown.”

Mincey also worked for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in their unsuccessful bids to keep their U.S. Senate seats.

“I do have some experience of communicating with people about the issues facing their community,” he said, “but (the landfill application) was the first campaign or group that I personally led.”

Mincey said his mother, former Effingham County teacher Stacy Mincey, helped him a great deal in the landfill fight. He said Damon Mullis, Meaghan Walsh Gerard, Gerald Ash, Joshua Strickland and Samuel Strickland were also crucial.

“I also want to say that Ogeechee Riverkeeper was instrumental in both counties,” said Mincey, who added he was grateful for all the Facebook group’s contributions.

Mincey plans to continue operating the page.

“I’m not 100 percent sure what the future of the group will be but I would like to keep it up and running just in case something related to this ever comes up again,” he said. “The main thing we are going to harp on is trying to figure out all the county commission meeting dates and times just so that people stay involved in their community. It really seems that everybody harps on the national government and the state government but no one hardly ever pays attention to their county government or municipal government until something like his happens.”