County commissioners voiced interest in recycling at their meeting Tuesday.
Of tires and electronics.
That’s certainly a blow to local volunteers who for the last year have been pleading with city and county officials to get behind some kind of widespread recycling program ever since Iola’s Rotary program stopped its 25-year collection effort.
Instead, officials have told volunteers they lack the funds, manpower and consensus to assist.
But Tuesday, they appeared to allow some exceptions to their opposition by voicing interest in recycling eWaste, such as discarded lithium ion batteries used in computers, vaping products, cell phones and the like.
They also discussed getting into the tire recycling business as a means to address the fast-growing mountain of shredded tires being dumped in the landfill.
As for the eWaste program, I’m all for it.
When lithium ion batteries come in contact with each other or other metals, they can ignite. So far, three fires have occurred at the landfill in 2023, the most recent on July 28. According to Public Works director Mitch Garner and Jared Brooks, an engineer with Schwab Eaton of Manhattan, disposed batteries are the likely cause.
Because they are highly flammable, the batteries should be treated as hazardous waste, and as such never included in curbside trash.
So yes, both city and county leaders need to assume responsibility for educating the public about their dangers and create special receptacles for their disposal.
AS FOR tires, the county has been willing to turn a blind eye as Shane Lamb of DeSoto dumps mountain after mountain of partly shredded tires at the landfill.
Lamb owns FMS/United Tire. The business is at the former Lehigh Cement Plant and occupies seven acres of which the southern portion abuts the Lehigh Portland Trail.
Since mid-February, Lamb’s business has hauled almost 2,000 tons of tires to the landfill, averaging 330 tons a month.
If you combine the totals of the five other businesses who haul tires to the dump, it amounts to 117 tons — a far, far cry from Lamb’s haul.
On Tuesday, engineer Brooks warned county commissioners that the area designated for tires is fast-approaching its limit, estimating there’s less than 10 feet before it reaches its maximum permit level.
Brooks also said dumping the tires next to everyday waste is unwise because they are highly flammable and once they catch fire are a beast to extinguish.
