Marshall County government will be looking for a new trash hauler.
During Monday’s commissioner meeting Doug Masterson and John Greer from Buildings and Grounds discussed an issue they are having with Waste Management. A few weeks ago Waste Management sent Greer a photo with a plastic bag in the cardboard recycling material making the load contaminated. Waste Management charged the county $90 for the plastic bag.
Commissioner Overmyer said, “With the way recycling is going, I wonder if it’s time to just vacate it or vacate Waste Management and bring someone else in.” He said he didn’t think it was fair that they were being the judge and jury on what they pick up and what they don’t pick up. Overmyer also questioned whether the material is really being recycled.
Greer said he was contacted by a company out of North Judson who would offer trash hauling without recycling for $450 a month compared to the $1,000 to $1,200 monthly charge the jail is receiving from Waste Management.
Currently the county is taking shredded material to the Marshall County Recycling Center. The change happened when Waste Management wanted the county to dump the material in the recycling dumpster and not have it bagged. The county has concerns that the recycling material will end up all over the parking lots and grounds when the wind blows.
Masterson said originally we were using black bags. They got a call from Waste Management who said they wanted different colored bags so first they went to clear bags and then to white and then Waste Management wanted the shredded material lose. They also told Masterson that no one was recycling because of the cost. They jail cancelled the recycling dumpster at the jail and Waste Management was going to charge them another $200 to removed the dumpster.
Commissioner Overmyer asked Masterson and Greer to look at the contract and see what the out process is. The commissioners pay the trash and recycling for the whole county so it was suggested they get an inventory of containers from all the buildings and see what kind of agreement they could get for all the county buildings together.
