Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Terry Hart dumps waste at the new Botetourt County convenience center Friday. Residents pay $9 per visit to dump up to 500 pounds of trash.

Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Debbie Andrews collects the fee for use of Botetourt County's new convenience center for trash disposal. The center is open, but construction is still under way. An official grand opening is planned for later this month.

TROUTVILLE -- The Botetourt County landfill reached capacity last year, forcing county officials to develop an alternative system so that residents can dump their garbage.

The decision: Instead of opening a new landfill, Botetourt officials decided to start hauling the county's trash to Salem's solid waste facility -- and that trash is hauled to a landfill in Amelia County.

As a way to help serve Botetourt County residents, a $1.5 million "convenience center" opened earlier this month at the old landfill site off Catawba Road near the Craig County border.

Residents who wanted to drop off their trash used to drive up a gravel, sometimes muddy road to the old landfill on the hill. Now residents can travel a paved driveway to a scale house with a drive-up window.

"It is a lot more convenient," said Cloverdale resident Donna Young.

And that was the plan -- hence the name of the facility. It's essentially a small transfer station that will remain open in Botetourt.

Many residents like hauling their own trash to a facility, instead of using the services of private franchise haulers that operate in the county, picking up trash in neighborhoods and at businesses (recyclable items are picked up separately by private contractors).

Terry Hart, another Cloverdale resident, regularly disposes of his own garbage.

"Last time I checked it was pretty expensive," he said of the costs associated with the private haulers. "And that's before they had to start taking it to Salem."

The private companies charge their own fees to the customers they serve, and the county has capped the fee at $21 a month per customer for residential pickup.

Residents are charged $9 for up to 500 pounds of trash at the convenience center. Above 500 pounds, the charge is $49 for up to a ton.

The county made the decision to open the new center but not to increase the associated rates, County Administrator Jerry Burgess said.

Hart uses a trailer to store his trash and once it's full -- about every month or six weeks -- he hitches it to his pickup truck and drives to the landfill.

Residents back up their vehicles to the trash compactor and toss it in. There are separate recycling stations for tires, paint, scrap metal, appliances, oil, batteries, mixed paper, aluminum and glass.

Although the center is open to the public, construction still is under way.

"We are still tweaking and tuning," said Greg Hannah of the county's Waste Management Division.

Burgess said an official grand opening is slated for later this month.

Once the facility is complete, there will be two sets of scales to manage two-way traffic, which will be especially efficient on the center's busiest day, Saturday. It only is open half a day on Saturday but between 80 and 100 vehicles usually drop off loads.

Tim Frazier of Daleville enlisted his two sons, Caleb Frazier, 7, and Trevor Frazier, 12, to spring clean. The task included a trip on Friday to the trash compactor.

"It is not exactly what I had planned [for spring break]," Trevor Frazier said a bit glumly.

Staff writer Pete Dybdahl contributed to this report.