Recycling options, costs discussed by county
Staff reporter
Marion County Commission wants the county to recycle. The question is how much will it cost?
That question was discussed Monday when county transfer station manager Rollin Schmidt asked the commission if recycling bins could be placed within the fence at the transfer station.
Several options were discussed that included contracting with an independent refuse company which would provide containers and disposal or the county purchasing containers and hauling to a recycling center.
Schmidt said a trailer would cost $17,500 and bins $900 but he could check with local trailer manufacturers to see if there are other options.
Commission chairman Randy Dallke asked how county residents could recycle after hours if the bins are located inside a locked fence. Commissioner Bob Hein said Hillsboro has been recycling for several years and volunteers help with receiving and sorting the materials.
Schmidt said he was concerned about his current employees having to handle the additional responsibility of recycling materials with their usual busy day of disposing of refuse.
Commissioner Dan Holub said he and Schmidt had visited a construction and demolition recycling plant at Wichita, C&D Recyclers of Kansas, Inc. Debris was sorted with a steer loader and moved with grapple hooks. Material that wasn't recycled was disposed in a C&D landfill, Holub said.
Area companies used the recycled material and constructed various items.
In other business:
— Schmidt told the commission that an individual had asked him to accept approximately 1,000 tires as household waste if the tires were quartered or split.
Dallke said he was concerned about that many tires adding to the county's total tonnage when hauled to the landfill.
Schmidt said a tire was a tire whether it was cut up or whole and the individual should be charged accordingly. The commission agreed and approved the motion that the station only accept tires if paid for individually.
— Electronic waste collected at the county transfer station will be discarded at Butler County if there is no cost to the county.
