After the holiday, county's recycling bins are extra busy.

Doug Barron of Maple Disposal removes Styrofoam
from a recycling site in Suttons Bay last week. Although
cardboard, paper, glass, plastic and metal are recyclable
at Leelanau County sites, Styrofoam is not.

Immediately following the annual visit of Santa Claus to Leelanau County last week, many residents were apparently busy visiting county recycling sites.

“Business is heavy for us this time of year,” said Dave Barron, an owner of Maple Disposal, the
private company that services Leelanau County’s eight solid waste recycling sites under a contract with the county.

“Right after Christmas, the volume of material we receive for recycling shoots up to the levels seen during the busiest time of the summer, “ Barron said.

At one of the county’s busiest recycling sites, in Greilickville, bins are normally emptied every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But last Thursday, Dec. 27, the bin for cardboard, paper and other “fiber” items was overflowing – necessitating an extra visit by one of Maple Disposal’s trucks.

“Every kind of fancy-colored paper with Christmas designs, all the cardboard boxes for toys – it’s all the stuff you’d typically expect to see in recycling bins this time of year,” said Barron. “It’s just that there’s a whole lot of it.”

Barron noted that one item not welcomed at the county’s recycling sites – the formed Styrofoam inserts that protect items packed in boxes – is seen all too often in recycling bins this time of year. To the extent they can, Maple Disposal employees try to remove Styrofoam from bins so the material isn’t mixed in with the acceptable recyclables.

Leelanau County has a website that spells out exactly what is, and what is not, recyclable at county sites. The website is located at www.leelanau.cc/solidwaste.asp online.

A list of what can be recycled at county sites this year will be expanded to include colored glass, Barron added. He said that on Dec. 28 he took delivery of a number of smaller, 6-yard recycling bins for glass that he expects to deliver to each of the county’s recycling sites by Feb. 1.

The glass will be taken to a company near Grand Rapids that manufactures a construction block referred to a “shiny block.”

Ivan Immink of Suttons Bay Township depoists
plastic items in a receycling bin in the parking lot
behind Suttons Bay Public School last week.

Another change upcoming at recycling sites this year will be dividers inside bins now used for a combination of clear glass, plastics and metals. The new interior dividers will allow deposits of plastics on one side, while the other side will be for tin and aluminum cans.

The changes will make the county’s solid waste recycling programs more cost-effective while making it more convenient and economical for transporting and processing, according to Trudy Galla, head of the county’s Planning and Community Development department.

The programs are administered by a 14-member Solid Waste Council appointed by the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners. The council meets once a month and works to improve the programs, increase collection of materials and volumes, and provide for efficient and convenient services, Galla explained.

In seven of Leelanau County’s 11 townships, recycling programs are paid for through a $25 per household fee approved by voters in August 2006. In three other townships – Bingham, Kasson and Solon – residents can “opt in” to the program by paying a $30 per year fee with their tax bill. In Cleveland Township, voters in August will reconsider authorizing the $25 per household fee, but in the meantime can “opt in” for 2008 by paying a $30 fee directly to the county.