With Lincoln County taking over the operation of the solid waste disposal in the county, not the hauling operations, Commissioner Varlin Higbee asks members of the public to be especially careful what is dumped into what bins at the various transfer stations.
He stated at the special commission meeting this week, some people have not been careful about that. “In every one of the collection sites I have visited lately, I find that stoves, refrigerators, the larger household appliances, etc., have been put into bins that are intended only for smaller things, paper products and things in household trash bags.”
Higbee said this creates major problems for the trash collection trucks, “because you can’t compact that kind of stuff.” He explained that a front loader, like the ones that come to town to pick up trash, can haul 20 bins or more of material because it can be compacted into the truck by the hydraulically powered moving wall. “You’re not going to get that when people dump construction material or large household appliances into” the smaller transfer bins.
Adam Katschke said he believed there will need to be a “retraining of the people in the county.” He said there are 40-yard bins there specifically intended for those type of large items. “But if people continue to throw it into the 6-8 yard bins, then costs are going to increase.” Higbee said the cost of freighting will just drive the costs up, double, maybe even triple.
Higbee suggested putting a fence with a locked gate on the transfer sites, and have them open only two or three times a week. Katschke said the landfill committee had talked about that, but made no decision.
Higbee said if people will just put construction materials and the other large items in the proper size bins, “Western Elite can then haul it down to their own site.”
