Managing editor
It has been talked about for years. Contracts were signed months ago. Will recycling occur anytime soon?
According to Marion County Commission Chairman Dan Holub, recycling will begin in the near future.
He spoke to Marion Chamber of Commerce members Friday about the county’s intention of starting a countywide recycling service.
A contract was signed with Sonoco of Hutchinson, Holub said. The company will provide a cardboard baler to the county for an initial cost of $1,200. The county then would pay $1 per year to lease the equipment.
No exact schedule has been determined, Holub said, but here is the probable scenario.
Residents can bring recyclables to the county transfer station in Marion any time. A trailer could be located outside of the building and available for 24-hour, seven-day per week drop-offs.
The trailer then could be taken to other towns on Saturdays for an hour or two so those residents can drop-off recyclables.
“We don’t know how successful we will be but we’ll work at it,” Holub said.
Previously it cost the county $40 per ton to have solid waste hauled to a landfill near Topeka. Since then, the county has taken steps to reduce the cost of transporting trash by signing a contract with a landfill in Butler County — nearly half the distance as the previous landfill. The county also purchased a semi tractor to pull trailers to the Butler County landfill, using a county-paid driver.
And now with a recycling program, there should be more cost savings to the county when the amount of trash hauled to the landfill is reduced.
“We’re doing everything we can not to have to raise the $81 per year solid waste fee property owners currently are paying,” Holub said.
That $81 annual fee was instituted to pay for the purchase and operation of the transfer station. Holub said the bond would be paid in four years.
There is a need for a local recycling program. Holub used the example of people stopping to use the recycling trailer while it was in a parking lot, being repaired.
If all goes according to plan, residents can bring recyclables to the county’s transfer station where volunteers, those sentenced by district court to perform community service, and county inmates, will sort it.
The contract with Sonoco provides the pickup of cardboard, mixed paper, plastic, and aluminum. Holub said the county is trying to negotiate glass and metal cans as part of the program.
“Many businesses generate a lot of cardboard,” Holub said, with some trying to recycle. With this program, the county may be willing to pickup cardboard from those businesses with a high-volume of cardboard.
Marion resident Kevin Fruechting said since he and his family have begun recycling, they have reduced their trash stream by two-thirds. He continued that he only needed city trash removal one time per week. He asked if the city would consider providing a once a week trash removal service and then once a week for recyclables.
“Curb service would be more successful,” he said.
Holub said the commission was open to suggestions and encouraged constituents to share their ideas.