Posted on: March 8, 2011
County Clean-up Days Now Cost-Prohibitive
Last year, the County Clean-up Days cost the county over $52,600 with only $7,341 collected in donations to offset the expenses. Examples of some of the costs are: dumpsters, at nearly $34,900 - disposal of electronics, over $2,811 - and salary expenses for county workers totaling over $10,000 for the county-wide events.
Regulations requiring waste disposal to meet stricter standards in recent years have added to the cost of proper treatment of waste materials, with state-mandated fees continuing to climb. The State Solid Waste Division’s User Fees and Reporting Fees are currently at $.39 per cubic yard and $130 per ton. Electronic disposal costs figure run from $5,000 to $10,000 per site with additional cost of $5,000 for storage at each site. The cost to dispose of appliances is $400 per ton, and it costs $80 per ton to dispose of tires.
With these fees and other costs expected to continue to increase, the Park County Commissioners reluctantly decided that the County Clean-up Days, while very popular, would have to be curtailed indefinitely.
Commissioner Dick Hodges said “We always enjoyed working side-by-side with Park County residents on Clean-up Days, and always had a good time doing it.”
“We’re really sorry that the current financial pressures on the County budget just won’t allow us to continue to have them at this time,” said Commissioner John Tighe.
“I love Clean-Ups and I’m sorry we can’t do this anymore,” said Commissioner Mark
Dowaliby.
County residents do have the opportunity to take advantage of another means of disposing of their small household recyclable materials, however. The grass-roots supported Recycle the Park will recycle cans, aluminum, glass and some plastics. Material can be dropped off at the Mountain View transfer station west of highway 285 between the bowling alley and North-West Fire Station just south of Fairplay. For hours and rules of disposal, contact Lynda James at (303) 838-2178 or![]()
They are not equipped to accept large items such as appliances and computers, and cannot accept batteries or other hazardous materials.
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