A ray of hope broke through the discussion Monday evening when Corey Schinstock, assistant city administrator, assumed the responsibility of working with volunteers to devise a countywide recycling plan.
Up until then, it appeared it was all up to them.
“We need a plan that shows the financials and how this is going to work,” Allen County Commissioner John Brocker told recycling volunteer Steve Strickler at this week’s meetings of both the city and county. “We’re happy to support it, but you’ve never presented a plan that I can justify to our taxpayers. You’ve gotta bring a plan to the table.”
To my mind, Brocker’s request — echoed by several of his city counterparts — is like a dentist telling me to fix my own aching tooth.
Across the dozens of volunteers with Allen County Recycling, not one is equipped to create and manage a municipal service.
They’re plenty smart, but their talents lie in being pastors, dairymen, grant writers, students, daycare providers, non-profit directors, greenhouse operators, teachers, architects, physicians, retailers and all other kinds of do-gooders.
Wonderful people, but none with the know-how of what all it takes to operate a public works or street and alley department, the latter of which oversees Iola’s trash collection service.
Which is why the city and county are a natural fit to assume the task. They are the experts.
Not only do they know the logistics of collecting and hauling refuse, but they know its costs.
Who do I want fixing my tooth? A dentist. Else I’ll find the nearest doorknob and string.
Adding recycling will be an extra expense. But maybe not by all that much. At May’s Council meeting, at which more than 40 citizens attended, Council member Nich Lohman asked city administrators to provide Council a cost breakdown if the city were to revert to once-a-week trash service. Although those savings have not been shared, surely some economies exist.
Recycling will also extend the lifetime of our county landfill. At the current rate, our new 10-acre $2.36 million cell will be full in less than 10 years. Previous cells took half as long to reach their limit.
Last year, household waste from around the county totaled about 7.3 tons; commercial trash 6.5 tons.
We’re not practicing good stewardship by filling it with materials that could be repurposed.
County officials laud the landfill because it’s a moneymaker from the tipping fees they charge 13 other counties to dump their trash here. In 2022, the county collected $2.2 million between tipping fees and sales taxes.
That, too, makes the argument all the stronger for keeping local waste at a minimum. Recycling can do that.
