News editor
Mayor Delores Dalke wants input from the public about what Hillsboro City Council should do about the site where residents can drop off household hazardous waste.
The county said Monday it was up to the city to supervise drop-offs, or it would remove its cabinets from the site.
Dalke said Tuesday that nobody had told her about the new issues.
“I don’t know why it’s not being supervised,” she said. “I like the fact that the cabinet is there.”
It is a service to city residents, but if it isn’t being supervised, that is a problem, she said.
The hazardous waste cabinets at the city’s recycling site on North Birch Street have been there for years but were removed by the county once before, Dalke said. The issue was supervision then, too.
Dalke didn’t know what the city council would want to do, because it hasn’t discussed the hazardous waste drop-off. She said she hoped to hear from Hillsboro residents if they have an opinion about the site. Residents can visit her at The Real Estate Center, 116 N. Main St., or call (620) 947-2321.
County hazardous waste director Rollin Schmidt said the cabinets are supposed to be supervised when unlocked, according to rules from Kansas Department of Health and Environment. However, whenever he inspects them, they’re left open and unsupervised. The cabinets belong to the county and fall under its hazardous waste permit, but the recycling site is owned by the city.
KDHE could fine the county or even revoke the county’s permit for household hazardous waste disposal, although Schmidt said permit revocation is unlikely. It is important that waste be sorted properly because certain mixtures can react violently, he said.