Yardwaste site opens for season Monday

Saturday, March 31, 2007
Greencastle's Yardwaste Recycling Center is located at the corner of Ind. 240 and First Street.

Warm temperatures across the area lately mean Putnam County residents are pulling out the lawnmowers, clearing out dead brush around their houses and generally sprucing up their lawns.

Officials with the West Central Solid Waste District announced this week that the Greencastle Yard Waste Recycling Center will open for the season on Monday.

The center is located on the southeast corner of Veterans Memorial Highway and First Street, across from Greencastle Middle School.

Hours of operation are 2-6 p.m. Mondays, noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays. The yardwaste center will close for the season on Nov. 10.

With the reopening of the recycling center, West Central officials are reminding the public that they can drop off grass clippings, tree limbs, leaves, old shrubs and other yard waste, except for rocks and dirt. Root balls should be removed from shrubs and trees.

Last year, the yardwaste site collected 200 tons of waste that was recycled at locations around the county, including the Putnamville Correctional Facility. Officials at the prison process the material into mulch which they use for their garden program for inmates.

Also last year, a total of 1,100 people dropped off materials at the site to be recycled, according to the West Central officials.

The West Central district covers Putnam, Parke, Montgomery and Morgan counties with recycling programs, including school age education, and rural recycling centers. There is a rural recycling center in Roachdale and one in Cloverdale. The one in Cloverdale was recently moved from the former IGA to the Value Market.

At last month's meeting of the West Central board of directors, a proposal to move the Greencastle yardwaste site from its current location was discussed.

West Central Director Jane Collisi said the district may want to consider moving the site because Ivy Tech is still planning to construct its new Greencastle campus on that site.

They discussed moving the site to the Putnam County Highway Department, on Sunset Drive, at the southwest edge of town.

County officials had expressed an interest in allowing West Central officials to use a portion of the land occupied by the highway department for the new yardwaste site, but at this week's recycling district meeting, the issue was not discussed. The recycling board will not meet again until May.

Recycling officials have expressed a desire to move the yardwaste site in time to open in the new location next April.

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