BY KEITH LIPPOLDT
klippoldt@gbtribune.com
The Barton County Commissioners were subjected to trash talk from Solid Waste Director Jennifer Hamby at Tuesday’s Commissioner meeting at the Courthouse. To be more precise, Hamby talked about the ongoing recycling efforts of the staff at the Barton County Landfill.
“I would like to talk about some of the recycling programs that our landfill offers for the community,” Hamby said. “Recycling is a crucial part for our community and the landfill. By diverting recycled materials, we extend the lifespan of the landfill, and we conserve our natural resources by not having to extract new raw materials. So it’s very important that we all work together and recycle as much as possible.
“One of the programs we offer is our household hazardous waste program. We offer this program for Barton, Pawnee and Ellsworth county residents. They can bring out paints, cleaners, car chemicals, batteries and expired medications.”
Hamby said the scheduled collection days are every third Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon. If you are unable to make it on the scheduled day, she asks that you call in advance to set an appointment so they can have a staff member available to help.
“Since 2003 we have diverted 750,000 pounds of chemicals and cleaners from the landfill,” Hamby claimed. “That’s a very substantial amount. Also with this program, we offer a reuse program. Anything that somebody brings out that’s still full and the container is in good condition, the label is still in good condition, we put it on a reuse shelf, and they can set up an appointment and come out and basically shop our store. It’s free for residents. That’s something that we’re pretty proud of.”
Batteries are another item that can cause major problems for the landfill.
“Batteries, particularly lithium ion batteries, have become a real big problem here in the past several years,” Hamby said. “All batteries pose their own threat to the environment, depending on what materials they are made up of. But lithium ion batteries pose the biggest threat because of their potential to go into thermal runaway when damaged or exposed to extreme heat. This is because they have a flammable electrolyte in them, and they have a large amount of energy and a little space. So if they’re damaged, they explode, they cause fires. It’s very important – please bring your batteries to us. And if you’re not for sure what kind you have, whether they’re lithium, lead or acid, bring them all. We’ll take them all.”
Hamby says the landfill also has an electronics waste recycling project to help people get rid of unwanted electronic equipment and devices. A lot of those devices will still have the batteries in them but landfill personnel will extract the batteries. She also said they receive a lot of devices that have been smashed or mutilated.
“I’ve noticed a lot of them are smashed, like phones and tablets, and I believe they’re doing this so people can’t steal their information,” she said. “But they’re doing this with the battery still in them, and that is very dangerous. So I ask the public – please do not smash your devices. Bring them out. I’ll get that battery out for you, and then you can smash it, but please not with the battery in it, because I’ve seen them explode. It’s pretty scary. And these batteries are in your phones, your watches, tablets, toys, your drills, your power tools. They’re in everything. And not only does it pose a risk for us out there if there’s a fire, but to the firemen, too. And if they get into a trash truck and they get damaged while they’re in that truck, that truck can catch fire. Please do not put them in your trash.”
Again, these services are free to residents of Barton, Pawnee and Ellsworth counties. The landfill collects the used batteries and ship them off to a company called Culture Recycle where they disassemble them and extract the dangerous materials.
Fires do happen at the landfill and the County recently upgraded the fire truck to a four-wheel drive Ford F-350 brush truck. Another valuable piece of technology is a thermal camera that can detect hot spots, which allows personnel to react quicker before the fire can get too big.
Mattresses is another item that the landfill began accepting and recycling in 2011 and, to date, it has diverted more than one million pounds of mattresses, and the demand is still great.
“We take the mattresses to the Hutchinson Correctional Facility and they segregate the components for recycling,” Hamby explained. “The box spring wood is used to make outdoor furniture and some smaller items, like rabbit hutches, dog or cat houses, small sheds. They also take the padding from the mattresses and make dog crate pads. The project is called Hope Project. They do have a Facebook page and it lists all the different things the public can purchase.”
She also reported they have recycled more than 200,000 pounds of tires. They are sent to a facility in Concordia where they are recycled into livestock feed bunks, benches, picnic tables and shred into playground material.
Since 2008, Barton County has also diverted 606 tons of metal and 700,000 pounds of electronics away from this landfill.
Hamby also wanted to share a couple of reminders to the public.
“We have a wind closure policy,” she said. “So despite our best efforts with daily cover and our brand new windscreens, which help a lot, the wind is a problem out there. Our policy states that we close the landfill with sustained winds of 30 miles per hour, gusts above 35 or, prior to gusts 40 or higher arriving. So if it’s a windy day and you need to come out to the landfill, we ask that you call ahead, see if we’re open, or see what our plans are for closing. We can normally guess about what time we’re going to need to close.
“Also, we do have a secure load policy. Every load that reaches the landfill needs to be covered or secured so nothing can leak, sift or fly out of the vehicle. Any vehicle entering the landfill that is not secured, there is an additional 50% added on to the total, just to kind of deter unsecure loads. And again, it’s not just about our roadways being unsightly, with litter everywhere, it is a safety hazard.”
If you have questions, whether it be wind closure, or what you can and cannot bring, call the Barton County landfill at 620-793-1898 or check the website at www.bartoncounty.org.
