Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
While campaigning for the Warsaw city council, representative Joe Thallemer said starting a recycling program in Warsaw is one of his main goals.
That statement will soon become a reality.
After serving on the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District board for two years, the local optometrist narrowed his focus this winter, chairing a curbside waste task force.
The committee, after nine months of information gathering, will hold its first public meeting Wednesday to discuss a voluntary curbside recycling program for the city. Citizens are invited to ask questions and give their comments and concerns in the Central Park pavilion, beginning at 7 p.m.
"We're going to try and make recycling collection as simple and user friendly as possible to get everyone to use it," Thallemer said this week.
Ideally, residents will participate in the program by leaving paper in one bin and glass, plastic, metal and aluminum in another for collection once a week.
All single-family houses and multi-family buildings with no more than four units will be eligible for the program - about 4,000 households.
Collection bins will be provided by the company selected to conduct the city's program.
"In Warsaw, the costs of waste management are hidden in the tax base. Any type of involuntary program with a user fee would be looked upon unfavorably," Thallemer said.
Residents have recycled yard waste for more than 10 years. This diverts more than 20 percent of the waste stream from the landfill.
Many people use the waste district's three recycling station locations in the city. They will be removed Dec. 31 due to budgetary cutbacks by the district. Removal of the stations became known this fall, just as the task force was completing its study.
Each of the five city districts are represented on the city's recycling committee. The representatives are Mike Harstine, District 1; Julie Becknell, District 2; Luke Rankin, District 3; Mike DeWald, District 4; and Dick Boggs, District 5. In addition to Thallemer; membership included Sue Studebaker, director of the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District; Eric Sanson, KCSWMD educator; Lacy Francis and Jennifer Whitaker, of the street department; and a media representative.
The task force found that financing of the collection bins should be provided to citizens as an incentive to recycle. Part of the cost of the container may be provided through an Indiana Department of Commerce grant.
Thallemer said the cost of curbside recycling can be less than the cost of garbage disposal, providing there is a high percentage of participation.
Warsaw residents could join Winona Lake and Etna Green as recycling communities as early as the first quarter of 2003.
