Recycling Options Increasing For McDonald County Neighbors

Bruce Arnold is hoping more McDonald County residents start to regularly recycle.

He's trying to get the word out that McDonald County has two free recycling drop-offs that are available during daylight hours, 365 days a year. One drop-off is located in Pineville and one was just added just this summer in Southwest City.

That town had a recycling location several years ago, but lost that option when the business overseeing the recycling went under. City officials revived the idea and instituted the new drop-off several months ago. Arnold said the drop-off there is seeing "substantial growth." Other community officials – such as those in Noel – are currently exploring recycling options.

Arnold is encouraged by the drive to recycle. "The more recyclable material that is diverted away from landfills the better," he said. "Landfills all reach capacity eventually, the cost of setting up new sites is getting out of control and our location options are dwindling." Arnold started his post as Recycling and Litter Control program manager in March of 2019, taking over a program that had been dormant for many months. "It was necessary to rebuild the program almost from scratch, although we had several trailers and one old ½-ton truck from before," he said.

Since taking over the program two years ago, the program has been completely transformed, Arnold said. And the amount of tonnage of materials has more than doubled with each year.

Arnold sees that McDonald County residents are recognizing the importance of recycling. It's something he echoes constantly. "The toxic run-off from some materials, especially electronics, will become more of a problem in the future if they aren't recycled properly now," he said. "We all need to understand that some things shouldn't just be thrown away, especially when there are better options available."

Arnold personally would like to see a recycling drop-off in every incorporated city in the county and recycling availability on the county's far eastern side, but budget constraints make that call. To set up a recycling drop-off location, officials incur the cost of recycling bin trailers or large receptacles for materials. Trailers range from $15,000 to $20,000. Additional trailers – to help with overflow – can cost around $7,500. Officials utilized grant money from last year to purchase a much larger, new custom trailer. Grant money allocated from this year was used to purchase another used truck.

The combined county-wide Recycling and Litter Control Program, which started around 1996, is under the direction of the McDonald County Commissioners, and specifically, the Eastern Commissioner Jamey Cope. Cope also serves as a board member of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Region M, representing the County of McDonald, he said. Region M is responsible for the majority of the program's funding through annual grants. "These grants are funded from fees collected by Missouri landfills," he said. County taxes do not account for much of the budget, but for specific items not covered by a grant. An example, he said, is dumpster/collection costs, which recently spiked upwards by about 50 percent this summer. Arnold's goals include operating the program as efficiently as possible, so county resources –especially tax money – can be allocated elsewhere.

Officials plan and apply for grants for the upcoming fiscal year. They remain on the hunt to scout out good, used trailers but the timing doesn't always work out. "When we apply for grants for the upcoming fiscal year – July 1 through June 30 – we have to plan over six months in advance. So, most any used trailer available during the grant application time will be sold by the time the grant is approved and a purchase can be made," he said. Officials were recently offered two recycling bin-type trailers for $5,000 each, which would be great for Noel, or possibly Anderson or Goodman, he said. County funds, however, were not budgeted for that, at least not through the year's end. "It will probably be a missed opportunity unless the cities themselves are able to fund the trailer purchase."

The Region M Board has always been great about accepting grant requests, but 15 to 20 different organizations compete for funding, he said.

Arnold also applies for private grants, which are highly competitive. For example, the State Farm Neighborhood Assist® grant program accepts the first 2,000 entries. Those slots filled up in approximately 45 minutes this year. Arnold submitted his in time, but did not make cut of the 200 entries chosen. Of that number, only 40 are selected to then garner online votes from the public.

Despite funding challenges, Arnold remains optimistic that more McDonald County residents will choose to recycle in the future. He works to educate neighbors and youth in the school system about proper recycling and what options are available here.

"We've streamlined the entire process of hauling the recyclable materials to save fuel and time," he said. "The collection area is much more convenient and organized than before."

COURTESY PHOTO McDonald County Recycling and Litter Control Program Manager Bruce Arnold shows off the Pineville recycling drop-off location, located behind the historic log cabin courthouse at Harmon and 6th streets.