Mentone Council Hears About Recycling Program From Borden
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Jackie Gorski-jgorski@timesuniononline.com
MENTONE – A representative from an Elkhart-based waste company informed the Mentone Town Council on its services Wednesday.
Eric Ivory, account representative for Borden Waste-Away Services Inc., said he is aware some recycling drop-off sites are going away.
The Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management Board voted to close all nine unsupervised residential recycling drop-off sites in Kosciusko County after Dec. 31.
Ivory said Borden Waste-Away Services does provide recycling services, whether that’s subscription, individual, services or townwide services. He said the company wanted to continue to provide recycling services to anyone who wants it.
Councilman Tim Croy asked what the fee for services was. He also brought a concern if Mentone had a small amount of residents who wanted to the recycling services, if it was something that would still be in Borden’s interest to do.
Ivory said with the fee, he would have to work that out based on the amount of people that signed up. Typically, the fee is between $8 and $12 a month per household, contingent on density of residents using their service. The fee was dependent on how many residents used the service.
Ivory asked how many households were in Mentone. Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd said roughly 360 to 400. Ivory estimated the fee for 400 household would be $7 to $8 per month per resident.
Councilwoman Shelly Krueger asked if residents would have to separate the recycled materials. Ivory said no as Borden has a way to separate everything at its facility.
Krueger asked what the minimum amount of residents would be needed to make it work with Borden Waste-Away Service. Ivory said he would have to get back to her on the number.
Croy said when he heard of area recycling drop-off sites closing, he reached out to APEX and the Fulton County Solid Waste District. He said there is a possibility Mentone could be serviced by Fulton County, and in that case there might be no charge. There is a FCSWD board meeting Dec. 18 to see if they want “to do something here.” Croy said he was trying to get some options in regards to recycling.
No decision was made Wednesday.
In other business, the Council:
• Heard from Lisa Harman, Live Well Kosciusko president and CEO, about the K-County First campaign. Students in the county started making art projects that included thank-you cards and showed how much they appreciated law enforcement, fire, EMTs and all of those who work as first responders.
There’s also a webpage that includes the students’ artwork, which can be accessed through a QR Code. The website can be found at https://livewellkosciusko.org/kcounty-first. On the webpage, there is a section where people can thank first responders.
Harman said they also worked on a discount program for first responders in the community at participating businesses.
• Heard leaf season is done. Shepherd said 52 loads of leaves were picked up this year.
• Approved a resolution to relabel 2022 ordinances as some of them were numbered incorrectly.
• Was reminded APEX will not pick up trash that is not put into the red containers and the lid must close on the container.
