County grapples with recycling mess

FINDLAY — Overflowing recycling bins and people heedlessly dumping recyclables beside the bins have created a public nuisance at the former Litter Landing site. Recyclable materials get blown around the Recycling Hub, at 1720 E. Sandusky St., and off the site. "What we're seeing is a heavy overflow of contamination and litter over the weekends from the high volume and abuse of the site, said Courtney Comstock, recycling manager for Hancock County Solid Waste Management District. "The public abuse of the site, containers, materials being left beside the containers, those types of things are a major issue," she said. The problem occurs most frequently over the weekends. Rumpke, with whom the county has contracted, hauls away the recyclables three times each week. It has been picking up the recyclables on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This week it is changing the pick-up schedule at the site to Monday, Thursday and Saturday. It was an idea that came out of a meeting last week among Comstock, a Rumpke official and the Hancock County commissioners. The hope is to avoid having Rumpke pick up recyclables on a fourth day each week. "Adding a fourth collection of 43 containers is pretty costly," Comstock said. The county pays Rumpke $35.36 each time it empties a recycling bin into one of its trucks. The Recycling Hub has 43 bins. So, adding a fourth pick-up day would cost the county an additional $1,520 per week. Local residents can help the bins fill up more slowly by breaking down the cardboard boxes they bring. Styrofoam is not accepted, so it should be removed from boxes and discarded with regular trash. In addition, the county accepts recyclables at 16 other locations: • Arlington Village Park, 428 Mill St. (near soccer fields), Arlington; • Benton Ridge Community Park, 159 State Route 235, Benton Ridge; • Biglick Township House, 8273 Township Road 258, Alvada; • Agricultural Service Center, (next to) 7814 County Road140, Findlay; • Jackson Township House, 16006 County Road 8, Houcktown; • Portage Township House, 8037 Ohio 613, McComb; • Legacy Farmers, 6566 County Road 236, Findlay; • Riverdale School, 20613 Ohio 37, Mount Blanchard; • Van Buren School, 217 S. Main -- Bus Garage Alley, Van Buren; • Vanlue Grain, 309 Main Cross St., Vanlue; • West Independence Church, 22876 U.S. 224, west of County Road 23; • Legacy Grain Elevator, 400 S. Main St./Ohio 235, Mount Cory; • McComb Maintenance Building, 444 Maple St., McComb; • Hurricane Park, 310 S. Main St., Mount Blanchard; • University of Findlay – Spring St. parking lot behind 1310 N. Main St Findlay; • Arcadia Village, (Compost Area) 0 East Street, Arcadia.