ATTACHED PHOTO: Thanks to a donation from the Iowa DNR, the Marshall County Landfill recently opened a “swap shop” for household hazardous materials where customers can recycle and reuse them. Pictured are images from the first day of operations last week.
Jennifer Clemann, Marshall County Landfill (MCL) recycling education coordinator, and Don Ballalatak, executive director, are always looking for new ways to improve services at the facility, located west of Marshalltown. They recently benefited from a grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that allowed them to set up a “swap shop” where residents can recycle their household hazardous materials.
Clemann said such materials were previously sent to the Metro Waste Authority in Des Moines, but the $6,565 grant helped MCL staff build a shed with shelves, a cart and a scale next to the household hazardous waste building to store the materials here in Marshall County.
“We can put it in our swap shop. People can come by for free and take the things they need,” she said.
The scale is a helpful tool for tracking how much people bring into and take away from the Swap Shop, showing how much material they’re preventing from ending up at Metro Waste. Ballalatak said that while he hasn’t necessarily heard of much demand for such a service, it seems like a nice offering.
“We thought it might be a good option for us in the area,” he said.
Clemann said several customers have used the shop during the first week of operation, and she hopes to spread the word even more in the coming days and weeks. Going forward, landfill staff will continue to seek new grants and initiatives that fall into the six components of environmental management systems (EMS) – organic waste management, household hazardous materials collection, water quality improvement, greenhouse gas reduction, recycling services and environmental education.
“This fit with the hazardous household waste. We always have to have a target area in each of these categories,” said Clemann. “Our last project was the electronic waste building, which also fell under the hazardous household waste category.”
Clemann noted that residents often don’t know what to do with the hazardous materials they no longer need – including stains, varnishes, paint thinners, aerosol cans, countertop sprays, disinfectants, bleach and various automotive fluids – and that they are “constantly shocked” to learn that they can take these materials to the landfill for free rather than leaving them at home and risking an adverse reaction or exposure.
“These are things that someone else can probably use, but they don’t need excess inventory,” Clemann said.
The landfill can be found online at marshallcountylandfill.org or by calling (641) 752-0646. It is located at 2313 Marshalltown Blvd., Marshalltown, IA, 50158.
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Contact Robert Maharry
at 641-753-6611 extension 255 or
