County health director reminds residents of disposal rules, regulations

By JOHN BLODGETT

The Western News

Kootenai Disposal staff who met Wednesday with the Lincoln County Commission reported ongoing problems at dumpster sites — including scattered garbage and illegally disposed items — that prompted county health officials to reiterate rules and regulations.

“Greenbox sites are provided so that county residents have convenient locations for disposal of household garbage, but improper use of these sites makes them expensive to maintain and creates unsafe conditions,” said Kathi Hooper, director of Lincoln County Health Department, via email.

Jerry Snell of Kootenai Disposal , which contracts with Lincoln County to provide trash pickup, noted at the Commission meeting that at some sites people regularly leave garbage on the ground outside dumpsters.

He also said it wasn’t uncommon for heavy items such as engine blocks and refrigerators to be left in or nearby dumpsters, despite programs to pick up large appliances or pay for items that can be remanufactured.

“The sites are for household garbage only,” Hooper wrote. “Larger items, including furniture, appliances and wood waste, must be taken directly to a county landfill. Commercial and business waste and construction and demolition waste are prohibited.”

Further, anything left outside a dumpster is considered illegal dumping.

“We frequently find that a few dumpsters at a site are overflowing, while other dumpsters are completely empty,” Hooper wrote. “If all dumpsters are full, go to the landfill or come back at a later time.”

Acknowledging that people sometimes leave items outside dumpsters for others to reuse or recycle, Hooper said this, too, is not allowed.

“Absolutely no salvaging (is allowed),” she wrote. “These items do not belong at the greenbox site.”

Snell also had asked whether or how often the county ticketed people either for illegally dumping or not sufficiently covering garbage while transporting it, causing it to fly out onto roadways.

Not only must all loads “be adequately secured or covered during transportation,” Hooper wrote in her email, but “Illegal dumping and transporting loads that are not properly secured or covered are misdemeanors and may carry a fine of $200 or 90 days in jail.”

Hooper noted that a brochure about securing trash for transport can be downloaded at goo.gl/o86Uj7, and a copy of the county’s solid waste regulations is available at goo.gl/RZTr5d.

For more information, visit www.lincolnmthealth.com or call the Lincoln County Landfill at 406-293-7146.

“We appreciate any effort by the public to keep the sites clean,” Hooper wrote.