by Vern Hollister - Correspondent

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As Forest County Recycling Coordinator Pam LaBine read the names and handed out folders, the "Here's" and hands reaching out provided a call to order of county town names as if taking class attendance: Alvin and Freedom and Hiles, and Caswell, Wabeno, and the town of Crandon. Popple River. Nashville. Laona. Is Blackwell here? Argonne. Where is Armstrong Creek?

Each year the Forest County Solid Waste and Recyling Committee headed by LaBine as part of her position with the Zoning Commission, holds its annual meeting, a mandatory requirement by the state. Deputy Zoning Administrator under LaBine and by default Deputy Recycling Coordinator, Jeannie Fannin, said, "We get a grant from the state every year for our recycling program, and part of the agreement is that we have to do some training with that money. The grant covers the county's recycling program, roughly $100,000 from the DNR."

Monday, December 17, approximately 45 recycling attendants and a few town supervisors met at the Armstrong Creek Community Center to learn that Forest County had changed recycling companies to Northern Waste, Inc. out of Rhinelander and Lac du Flambeau. The main difference is that money, $40 a ton, goes back to the towns.

"Keep track of how many containers have been dumped in your collection," LaBine said. "We've never seen any return before, never had much impetus to recycle, and now we do."

Attendants were asked to send in envelopes with their counts every three months.

Tracy Howard, a co-owner of Northern Waste, Inc., said that little with the recycling as it is now will change. She did make one specific request.

"No bags," Howard said.

Apparently, when some people toss their recyclables into provided containers, they include the bags along with the glass, cans and plastics.

One of only two women in attendance as site managers, Lois Tucker said, "I make them do it right when they're there. People know to watch out for me."

For twelve years, Tucker has held watch over Hiles South. "I have a shed, and a little wood shed," she said about keeping warm during cold days. Open two days a week during the winter from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Tucker said any problems occur from people not from Hiles, usually. "Nobody listens to you," she said. "I have sheets, sheets posted; but some do as they please. People who don't live in Hiles. The worst thing is they throw stuff by the gate or sneak in and steal stuff out of the iron/metal bin, like an aluminum boat once."

Though there are moments when Lois has to set some people straight about their deportment, she keeps cozy from the wood stove, even chopping some of her own wood. "I enjoy it, you know," she said. "My husband, he's my backup guy and my main chopper."

Though the informational letter read ". . . a new contract that will be very different from the last," site managers and others saw little change other than the money. Some took issue with the metals being under "agreement" with a company for $75 a ton since the county does not accept refrigeration and freon, and the agreement company will not pick up refrigerators without condenser coils removed.

Therein lies the dilemma. The towns of Alvin and Wabeno, for example, have a salvaging company which pays so much a load or ton and hauls metal off their sites. According to Wabeno town supervisor Paul Ehlinger, their company also removes the freon from refrigerators and air conditioners. Wabeno accepts these discards, but charges customers $20 to take them. Some sites will not accept refrigerators, and as one person said, that leads to finding discarded units alongside the roads or piles of them at sites.

After some, at times, heated discussion, LaBine told town supervisors and managers that they should talk to their own town boards to determine how they wanted to handle metals. If they wished to hire their own salvage company or continue with one they currently have, they should petition the Solid Waste and Recycling Committee on an individual basis to opt out of the county agreement.

This is the first time three different contractors are involved in Forest County waste disposal. Solid waste disposal remains with the same company. Northern Waste, Inc. will handle recycling. Howard had worked out a tentative pick-up schedule. She also answered questions of concern from site managers including whether they would come out extra times when bins got full at high recycling seasons. They also wanted to know when the new bins would arrive because it would have to be soon.

"We've got three weeks before this starts," LaBine said. "We will work it out."

When the meeting concluded, representatives ate lunch, the entree beef tips and gravy over mashed potatoes, prepared by Debbie Thompson at the Armstrong Creek Community Center.

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