Wauseon re-opens 24-hr recycle drop-off

There is a difference between recyclables and trash. Some things are obviously trash, but county solid waste manager Don Krieger says that hasn't stopped many people in the Wauseon area from dropping off items that cannot be recycled.

The Wauseon drop off point for the county's recycling program has been inundated with items from dirty diapers to old washing machines and appliances. In addition, a string of pop can thefts forced the county to cease 24/7 hours at its Wauseon site.

The site is now back open after police apprehended a suspect in the pop can thefts, but officials warn that any further increase in unrecyclable items may force hours to be cut once more.

"We have been having a problem for the past six months," Krieger said. "In the beginning, we cleaned things up and kept going. We then decided we couldn't leave the site open and went back to daytime only hours."

He said the site is back open 24/7 but those hours are contingent upon residents bringing in only acceptable items. He did note that many items are things residents may not know aren't recyclable, but others are obviously just trash.

"We don't want to punish the general public because a few people are misusing the facility," Krieger said.

He also wants people to be aware of acceptable recyclables. (See sidebar)

In addition to the Wauseon site, county residents can drop off recyclables at a total of 10 sites.

Wauseon, Archbold, Pettisville Swancreek Township and Triangular Processing all have 24 hour drop offs.

Lyons and Metamora have sites that are open every Saturday while Fayette and Pike Township sites are open every second Saturday. The Delta site is open every third Saturday.

Krieger said there are a few problems at other county sites, but "not the way we have been getting them (in Wauseon)."

"We will never get away from getting items we cannot use. A lot of it is people may think items are recyclable. Styrofoam, for example. There is no market for that. Another is plastic grocery bags. I already have 400,000 grocery bags in storage that I can't do anything with."

Every Ohio county is required to operate recycling facilities but get no state funding for the mandatory operations, Krieger said.

"Still, we have done a better job in providing spaces than we are required to," he said. "We try to maintain that even though we get no funding from the state. We just ask that residents are conscientious about it with the items they drop off."

Residents who wish to dispose of trash items such as old appliances, except those containing freon, can take them to the transfer station north of Wauseon and dispose of them properly.

(Information from the Fulton County Expositor, a FOX Toledo News media partner)