Hancock County to Spend Nearly $100,000 Annually on Rural Recycling
Supervisor Rayhons: Waste Management fees were unsustainable at $70,000
Hancock County has entered into an agreement, effective July 1st, with the Landfill of North Iowa for disposal of solid waste, garbage, recyclables and yard waste. In March, Hancock County did not renew its rural recycling contract with Waste Management over steadily increasing rates and large amounts of garbage being placed at the dump sites. According to Hancock County Supervisor Gary Rayhons, in June of last year, it was time to begin investigating a different option due to what he called unsustainable costs.
The landfill’s operating agreement requires Hancock County to pay an upfront membership buy-in of $100,445.40, along with a yearly operating fee of nearly $5,000. The membership buy-in will be paid out over five years at a cost of $20,089.08.
In addition, Hancock County is working with an upstart company called Midwest Waste, LLC. to re-install rural recycling containers at 4 dump sites within the county. The cost of that agreement is $5,800 per month, and could fluctuate similar to Waste Management, if excessive garbage is placed at those sites like before.
Chris LaMont of Midwest Waste, LLC explains the kind of recycling bins the county will receive.
The combination of the landfill and Midwest Waste’s services will total nearly $95,000 per year for the first five years, after which the costs would be projected at over $75,000 per year and subjected to annual inflationary increases.
Hancock County Supervisor Jerry Tlach explains why the board feels both companies are a better alternative to Waste Management.
Beginning July 1st, rural Hancock County residents will be able to drive to 15942 Killdeer Avenue between Clear Lake and Mason City to utilize the landfill’s services. Recyclables can be placed in the drop off containers on-site, while garbage and other items may be disposed of at an additional cost to the taxpayer. Hancock County rural residents will only be able to access the landfill between the hours of 8am and 4:30pm Monday thru Friday and 8am to Noon on Saturday.
