Garbage
flow increases at transfer station
By LAURA
HAGAN
lhagan@owentonnewsherald.com
With no
mandatory garbage pick-up in Owen County, a number of people take
their trash to the Transfer station.
The Owen County transfer station takes household garbage, appliances
and other trash that accumulates in the home. There is a recycling
facility on-site that takes the appliances and metals. There is
also a truck that hauls mixed plastics to Frankfort.
They take
shingles, because they have a concrete pit in which to store them,
and they are easy to load and handle. Tires are also welcome;
if they are bought in there is a fee for whatever it costs Solid
Waste to get rid of them.
“We
can take some lumber, if it’s smaller,” Solid Waste
Coordinator Dan Logan said. He stressed that smaller quantities
and a smaller size were better to bring in.
What the transfer station cannot take is aluminum, glass, and
material from demolished buildings. Fencing is another thing that
cannot be brought in. It damages equipment at the station and
at the landfill.
Logan said there are massive piles of material being brought in
from demolished houses, and the station cannot do anything with
them.
Judge/Executive
Billy O’Banion said he wants the citizens to know that the
county will do everything they can to be open with those wanting
to bring their debris to the transfer station. He said with the
growing amount of material being brought in, the station is concerned
with conserving room.
“We
operate the transfer station to be as receptive as we can, dealing
with demolition debris,” O’Banion said.
He encourages
contractors to work with the county, and they will do their best
to work with the contractors.
Those demolishing
a structure have to get a demolition permit and should contact
a disposal company. Logan said the best thing to do when demolishing
a structure is to rent boxes or rollback trailors to store the
materials in. The boxes and trailors are dropped off at the site
and later picked up. There is also the option of going through
a company like Rumpke, CSI and Epperson Waste, all of which will
pick-up in the county.
He said
the station tries to recycle as much as they can at their location
so they don’t have to take as much to the landfill.
O’Banion
said the issue with a whole house or structure being brought in
is that it cannot fit in the compactor or be burnt. If the debris
is smaller and more compact, it’s easier for the station
to handle.
Logan said
no wood, lumber or paneling can be burnt at the transfer station,
and with such a large amount of material from the demolished houses
being brought in, it’s becoming a bit of an issue for the
station.
The Environmental
Protection Agency does not allow such materials to be burnt because
it affects the air quality.
He said
the transfer station is not designed to take demolished buildings,
such as barns, trailors and houses. It is also listed in the policy
that the station does not take such structures.
“We
don’t have the capacity to handle it,” he said, “and
it can cause damage to the equipment. We just don’t have
the manpower. It’s increasing exponentially and we have
to manage it.”
He said
the station is looking at alternate sites for the future, but
right now they have to deal with what they have, and that includes
only taking what they can manage.
Coming
up at the transfer station is Tire Amnesty, which lasts from Oct.
18-20. More information will come as the date gets closer, but
the annual event is held at the state barn and is done every four
years. Logan said close to 50,000 tires are brought in during
the three days.
There are
also free days at the transfer station on the last Saturday of
each month.
Logan said he just wants to “inform the people,” and
try to stop the massive truckloads of demolished building material
from coming in, because he wants to be able to dispose of the
materials properly.
“I
wish we had that capability,” he said. “Someday we
may.”
O’Banion
encourages those who have questions about what they can bring,
or are wondering what to do with debris if they are about to tear
a structure down, to call him or Logan.
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