City yardwaste site may make move

Thursday, June 21, 2007
City's yardwaste site will be relocated from Rokicki Park.

Greencastle's yardwaste recycling center, located across from the middle school, could be one step closer to being moved outside the city limits with officials seemingly in agreement on the switch.

On Monday, the Putnam County Commissioners agreed to let officials with the West Central Solid Waste District -- operators of the recycling site -- move to the county highway department property with one condition.

The commissioners stipulated that if the yardwaste site is moved to the highway department, recycling officials must agree to change the name to the Putnam County yardwaste recycling center.

On Wednesday, members of the four-county recycling board headquartered in Greencastle indicated a willingness to accept the change, however, no official action was taken.

Also discussed by the recycling board was a list of things that will have to be done to move the yardwaste site to the highway department. This includes constructing a fence around the property, installing a driveway, and building bins for the various tree limbs, grass and other yard debris that will be collected at the site.

The property where the yardwaste site is being proposed was formerly a landfill, which carries certain stipulations as to what can be built there, Putnam County Commissioner Gene Beck noted.

Beck sits on the recycling board with fellow commissioner Jim Baird and Greencastle Mayor Nancy Michael, along with officials from Montgomery, Morgan and Parke counties.

Recycling officials are proposing to construct concrete or asphalt pads as a base for the collection bins, but Beck reminded them that permanent structures cannot be built on landfills. There seem to be some confusion, among officials, as to whether concrete or asphalt pads are considered permanent.

In the meantime, recycling officials made plans on Wednesday to begin seeking local companies to draw up a design for the new site so they can put the actual construction of the yardwaste site out for bids.

Officials plan to operate the yardwaste site at its current location through the end of the season but hope to be ready to open in the new spot next April.

The reason they are seeking to move the site is because Ivy Tech is planning to construct a new campus on the property where the current yardwaste site is located. Those plans are continuing to move forward with Ivy Tech officials hoping to begin the $8 million construction project next year.

Meanwhile, the recycling district is about to undergo a name change. On Wednesday, the district's board of directors voted to change the name from West Central Solid Waste District, to West Central Recycling District.

Officials agreed that having the name "solid waste" gave the public a misconception that West Central was a sewage district or trash service. The name change will not go into effect until Jan. 1 of next year.

In other business, the recycling board:

* Learned that Wal-Mart stores may be getting ready to start a recycling program at its stores nationwide. West Central officials said they received inquiries from Wal-Mart stores in Greencastle, Crawfordsville and Martinsville recently concerning recycling bins being located at the stores.

* Learned that West Central's education coordinator Pam Burgess is seeking to redo the district's website. Burgess hopes to make the site more interactive and provide more information to users about recycling.

* Continued discussions on a new building for the district's headquarters. Commissioner Beck pointed out that the county is looking to do away with the courthouse annex (Old Jones School) because it is costing the county a lot of money to maintain.

"We haven't really decided yet," Beck said of what the county plans to do with the offices that are housed at the annex. West Central is one of those offices and officials there have discussed the idea of moving to a new location, possibly constructing a new building in front of the Humane Society of Putnam County on Ind. 240, east of Greencastle. The county has said it would more or less give the land to the recycling district, but recycling officials haven't agreed to accept the offer.

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