By Zach Jensen,
Winneshiek County is beginning to distribute and use the county’s new rural waste placards.
The Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors had previously considered ending the county’s rural waste collection program due to what it deemed a lack of interest at the time. However, that notion was contested during the next week’s board of supervisors’ meeting, when the gallery was filled with concerned rural residents and a television crew. Since then, the supervisors have been researching and discussing ways to not only continue the program but make it more effective and efficient.
Winneshiek County Landfill Director and Rural Waste Coordinator TJ Schissel previously estimated between 500 and 600 people were using the rural collection sites each week, but he reported in September that number was closer to 1,450. Schissel also suggested in September the county could potentially save money by adding more recycling containers to the rural waste collection sites, which would then be hauled by Winneshiek County Recycling. That change would save the county about $35,000 annually, Schissel said.
Schissel told the supervisors this week that all of the county’s rural waste collection site monitors approved of the proposed changes to the dumping rotation. The new schedule would mean that, beginning Jan. 1, 2025, the Locust site will be open Monday, Wednesday and the first and third Friday of every month, while the Bluffton site would be serviced each Tuesday. The Kendallville site would be open to receive trash the first and third Thursday of each month, while the Fort Atkinson site would be open the second and fourth Thursday. The Ridgeway site would be open the second and fourth Friday of each month, and the landfill would be open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday for anyone with a Winneshiek County rural waste placard.
Full article available in the October 24 Decorah Leader.
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