Clinton County Recycling Network Faces Questions as Key Facility Set to Close July 1
Clinton Central Recycling drop-off serves between one and one-and-a-half semi-loads of recycling per week — and no replacement plan is finalized with just over a month to design a plan going forward.
The recycling drop-off facility at Clinton Central School is on track to close permanently on July 1, leaving Clinton County residents who live outside the city of Frankfort with sharply limited options for disposing of recyclables — and raising broader questions about the future of the county’s waste management network.
Joel Freeman, director of the Wildcat Solid Waste District, confirmed the closure is imminent unless the district’s board votes next week to intervene. He said the development caught officials off guard.
“This all kind of got dropped on us without warning,” Freeman said during an interview at the Wildcat Solid Waste facility off Burlington Avenue. “We really didn’t see it coming or have time to prepare for it.”
How the Closure Came About
The Clinton Central recycling drop-off has operated for years under an informal arrangement: the school’s maintenance employee staffed the facility as a secondary duty. The Clinton Central school board decided this spring that the arrangement was no longer workable.
“His duties primarily are maintaining the school grounds, and this is essentially a county recycling drop-off facility,” Freeman said. “That doesn’t really fall within his scope of work. So Clinton Central is no longer going to be using school staff to maintain that facility.”
Freeman said the board notified Wildcat Solid Waste of its decision at a meeting in early April. The site is currently still accepting drop-offs, but June 30 is the last date it will be open under the current arrangement.
The scale of material moving through Clinton Central underscores how significant the loss would be. Freeman said the facility ships between 24 and 40 cubic-yard pallets of recycling material each week — the equivalent of one to one-and-a-half semi-truck loads.
“Multiply that by 52,” Freeman said. “That’s a lot of waste. It’s all got to go somewhere.”
What the District Is Doing About It
Freeman said the Wildcat Solid Waste District board will take up the situation at its next regular meeting — Tuesday June 2nd at 10:30 a.m. in the commissioner’s room — and that several options are being explored. The board could vote to send Solid Waste staff to Clinton Central to keep the facility running. The district is also considering relocating the drop-off site entirely.
In anticipation of the earlier closure of city-side recycling drop-off at the Burlington Avenue street department, the district had already purchased three enclosed roll-off containers from Howard County’s solid waste district. Those containers are now sitting east of the Wildcat Solid Waste facility, and the original plan was to use them to collect recyclables from county residents and haul the material to Werner and Sons for processing.
“That was going to be a pretty simple solution,” Freeman said. “But we didn’t anticipate Clinton Central closing. So now we’re having to rethink that.”
He added that hauling costs for those containers — which would need to be emptied roughly twice per week — had not been budgeted for the current year. “When I did the budget last year, this wasn’t on the radar,” he said.
The board that will weigh those options is composed of seven elected officials: all three Clinton County commissioners, Frankfort Mayor Sheets, who currently serves as board president, one city council representative, one county council representative, and a board member from the town of Mulberry.
The Burlington Avenue Change and What It Means for County Residents
Earlier this year, the Frankfort Street Department ended recycling drop-off for county residents at Burlington Avenue. City residents in Frankfort retain curbside recycling pickup every Wednesday. For those who miss their Wednesday pickup, the street department typically has a truck available for recycling drop-offs Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For county residents, the situation is more complicated. Freeman said the Mulberry solid waste site — which is funded in part through the Wildcat Solid Waste District budget — remains technically open to county residents, but it is not equipped to serve the broader population.
“Realistically they only have one roll-off container out there (in Mulberry),” Freeman said. “They are not really set up to take waste from the entire county. Their facility is basically big enough for the town of Mulberry.”
Hazardous Waste and Electronics: What Still Works
Not everything is in flux. The Wildcat Solid Waste facility at Burlington Avenue continues to accept a wide range of materials from any Clinton County resident, free of charge, funded through property taxes.
Accepted materials include water-based and oil-based paints, batteries, computers and electronics, old pesticides, fuels, pool chemicals, muriatic acid, and other corrosive or hazardous household materials. The facility is also a registered electronics collection site under the Indiana state program, meaning it accepts televisions, flat-screen monitors, computers, radios, and anything with a circuit board or power cord.
Hours for drop-off are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., though Freeman noted that the street department closes the gate at 3 p.m. “We prefer if people are going to come in to be here by 3 so we can get things packed and put away before we leave,” he said.
Residents with questions can reach the Wildcat Solid Waste District office at 765-659-4257, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Landfill: Rates, Rules, and a Free Drop-Off Day This Saturday
For household trash — as opposed to recyclables or hazardous waste — the Clinton County Landfill on State Road 39 remains an option for county residents, and the rates may surprise people who have never used it.
A special waste executive at the Republic Services Walnut Creek (Clinton County) landfill said Clinton County residents pay steeply discounted rates compared to outside customers. A pickup truck load of general household trash or construction and demolition debris runs roughly $10 to $20 for a Clinton County resident.
“Even if you had a three-quarter ton truck — so you’ve got maybe 2,000 pounds of material — it’s going to be $11 (for Clinton County Residents),” he said. He noted the standard “gate rate” for construction debris can run $100 to $120 per ton for non-residents, meaning county residents receive roughly a 90 percent discount.
The landfill does not generally accept hazardous materials, electronics, tires, paints, or batteries — those items remain the domain of the Wildcat Solid Waste District.
This Saturday, May 30th, from 6 a.m. to noon, the landfill is holding a Clinton County Day event, during which county residents can drop off household trash at no charge. Participants must have a Clinton County ID. Large roll-off containers will be available on site for unloading. Items must be standard household trash; brush, whole trees, and hazardous or prohibited materials will not be accepted. Lumber is acceptable if it is four feet or shorter in length.
Bill Corbett, who handles operations at the landfill facility, confirmed the free event and noted the site serves a wide regional area but gives Clinton County residents priority access on days like these.
A Structural Problem Years in the Making
Freeman was candid about the deeper issue the current situation has exposed. He noted that Clinton County’s recycling infrastructure was largely built in the early 1990s when Wildcat Solid Waste was a two-county district partnered with Tippecanoe County. The facilities were set up with volunteer and low-cost labor in mind.
“Clinton Central used to be entirely run by one teacher and the students — I believe from student council or possibly FFA students — but it was basically all done by volunteers,” Freeman said. “And then when that teacher retired, it basically just defaulted to the maintenance man.”
He acknowledged that the district had been fortunate the informal arrangement lasted as long as it did, and that the time has come to build something more permanent.
“We’ve kind of been fortunate all of these years that he’s done that for us,” Freeman said. “But at this point I think we need to reevaluate and see what it’s going to take to move forward.”
Freeman said the challenge of disposal of trash is becoming a burning issue. Trash disposal will be getting attention from Community Leaders in the coming weeks.
He said he hopes residents will follow the district’s board meeting next Tuesday and that a workable solution will emerge quickly. “We’re going to do everything that we can to not have Clinton Central close,” he said. “We’re doing our best to try to find a path forward.”
Kaspar Media is attempting to arrange for a quarterly visit from a representative of the Wildcat Solid Waste District to appear on WILO Party Line Community Talk Show.