Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Sue Studebaker always wants to see an increase in recycling percentages, but called the overall county recycling rate of 37 percent "good" when she presented year-end figures during Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District board of directors meeting Tuesday.
"While Kosciusko County has done a good job of recycling, it could be much better," said Studebaker, executive director of the SWMD. "One of the areas that has slid to the side has been public education. One of my goals this year is to correct this. Warsaw is doing OK, but, hey, could be doing much better. Winona Lake has decreased again this year.
"It seems when a program starts, there is always an education push and the rate is great. Once a program is up and going, the education slips to the backside."
Warsaw's recycling program began in April, and 366.2 tons were collected during the year. The city's population is 12,415.
Winona Lake's recycling total was 257.1 tons for all of 2003, a decrease from the 407.92 tons collected in 2002. The town has a population of 3,897.
The town of Etna Green also has a curbside program that collected 29.24 tons in 2003 and 42.71 in 2002, with a population of 663.
The recycling stations collected 1,339 tons of cardboard, newspaper, mixed paper, plastics, steel cans and aluminum in 2003, at a cost of $79.90 per ton.
The district collected $132,225 from the landfill agreement, which received 106,147 tons of trash last year, more than 400 tons per day.
Also in 2003, household hazardous waste program collected 11,313 pounds of paint, four barrels of aerosols, four barrels of pesticides, 910 pounds of flammable liquids, 15 barrels of mixed chemicals, 9,719 pounds of electronic equipment, 4,468 pounds of lead acid batteries and 394 pounds of pharmaceuticals.
Solid waste district board of directors are: county commissioners Avis Gunter, Brad Jackson and Ron Truex; county councilman John Kinsey; Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins and councilman George Clemens and Winona Lake town councilman David Delp.
