Allen County commissioners might be willing to test drive a proposal from recycling leaders that would dedicate part of an employee’s time for recycling efforts.
The catch is: They want the City of Iola to do the same.
Allen County Recycling representative Janie Works asked commissioners Tuesday to designate an employee to work about 20 hours a week picking up cardboard in dedicated bins scattered around the county and to compress the material into bales.
Commissioners weren’t enthusiastic about the proposal and expressed limited support.
“I’m open to a trial basis,” Commissioner Jerry Daniels said.
He suggested the county and city each designate an employee who could help with recycling two or three days a week for a 90-day period. They could evaluate after that.
Commissioner Bruce Symes questioned the recycling leaders about their plans and experience with cardboard collection efforts.
Businesses are willing to put cardboard trash in totes on their property, Works and Steve Strickler said, but they don’t transport it to the recycling center behind Pete’s convenience store on East Street/U.S. 54.
The recycling group places totes at businesses throughout the county, Strickler said. He and his employees at Strickler Dairy collect the totes each day but it’s a time-consuming process. At one point, they picked up 93 totes; they’ve reduced the number to 26.
Terry Sparks, a business owner who was at Tuesday’s meeting for other reasons, said he’s noticed the difference in recycling. Businesses that have totes use them; when those totes were taken away, large amounts of cardboard ended up in the landfill.
Commission Chairman David Lee said he was concerned that if the county started to help with recycling efforts, the number of requests to pick up cardboard will increase.
“Let’s get with the city and see if they will commit,” Lee said.
City Administrator Matt Rehder confirmed he had received a request to put the matter on the city’s agenda, but his focus currently is on budget work and he doesn’t anticipate considering it until after the budget process, which could take a few more weeks.
Meanwhile, the county asked Mark Griffith, road and bridge director, to serve as the county’s lead on recycling. Griffith lives in Coffey County and is quite familiar with a successful recycling program there. He also noted the new federal infrastructure bill includes opportunities to fund recycling projects.
COMMISSIONERS have been hesitant to jump into recycling efforts, though Works and other recycling leaders say the job is too big to rely on volunteers. Works spoke to commissioners a few weeks ago, saying recycling should be treated like other services. She noted recycling keeps items out of the county landfill, thus increasing its lifespan.
