February 6, 2012
02/07/12 The Marshall County Solid Waste District and its facility, the Recycle Depot are funded through a combination of a local property tax, the sale of recycling commodities, come modest disposal fees, and grants. CAGIT funds were formerly used to help reduce the tax burden; however the county council has elected to divert those funds for other needs. Additionally, the State of Indiana has indefinitely suspended its recycling grant program. The 2011 annual report shows the District’s tax rate at $0.0107 with a levy of $258,220.
Last year the countywide interactions with the Recycle Depot included 8,917 residents, 1,239 businesses, and 154 municipal customers. The Education Coordinator assisted 2,818 callers and they reached 3,570 individuals via Facebook.
In 2011 there was nearly 170,000 pounds of mixed paper processed for recycling, over 132,000 pounds of cardboard were received and bailed and 94,000 plus pounds of co-mingled plastic, glass and metal. The Recycle Depot collected 6,814 pounds of cans collected from school cafeterias, sorted over 20,600 pounds of office paper including confidential documents shredded before recycling. Other materials collected including 6,000 pounds of hardback books that were shipped for recycling and 1,182 pounds that were shipped for reuse. The Depot also collected pop tabs and 640 pounds of plastic caps for school bench recycling programs.
The Recycle Depot partners with several locations to collect sharps including many area pharmacies in addition to being collected at the Depot. A special contractor collects the sharps for proper disposal at a licensed medical waste incinerator. Marshall County TRIAD and the Sheriff’s Department aid with the collection of controlled substances at the Health Fair and Senior Expo. Last year 495 pounds of sharps and 247 pounds of expired meds were received. Those totals do not include controlled substances collected and disposed of through the police.