The Logan County Solid Waste District offers a recycling program designed and built around household needs. It operates under a dual-stream system, meaning it accepts both fiber and household containers from its 16 recycling centers and the City of Bellefontaine’s Curbside Recycling Program.
While it may be easy to overlook the recycling process, it’s important to remember that there are real people on the receiving end of every drop-off. As all items are hand sorted, the waste district urges individuals who use their program to follow recycling rules by:
- Asking oneself, “Is this item recyclable here, at this facility?”
- Rinsing out cans, bottles, and containers
- Emptying and flattening cardboard boxes
- Only recycling plastic bags and films at the center on South Detroit Street
- Taking scrap metal to a scrap yard, or bringing it inside the facility as a donation
- Placing all food items in a green PAYT trash bag
One of the main issues the waste district sees is “wish cycling,” or the dropping off of items that people assume are recycled at the facility, when they are, in fact, not. Most commonly, these items include vinyl siding, trash cans, Rubbermaid totes, and swimming pools. These items are recyclable, simply not at the Bellefontaine facility.
Coordinator Angel Payne describes the waste district’s services, rules, and the importance of recycling:
For help determining whether an item can be recycled, the Logan County Solid Waste District encourages individuals to call them at (937) 599-1253 or to stop by their facility at 1100 South Detroit Street in Bellefontaine. The drop-off service is open Monday through Friday, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Acceptable paper items include newspapers, cereal boxes, and magazines. In cardboard, items such as shipping, pizza, and shoe boxes are also accepted, and in household containers, so are glass bottles, plastic bottles, jars, jugs, and metal cans.
Acceptable electronics include:
- Computers and Accessories: laptop, tower, servers, keyboard, mouse, speakers, cables, printer, printer/fax machine, scanner, and copier of any size
- UPS and Battery Backup System
- DVD Players
- All Telephone Equipment: pagers, cell phones
- Stereo/Record Playing Equipment: tape recorder, radio
- Household Appliances: toaster, microwave oven, vacuum cleaner, small electric hand tools
Items that the waste district does not accept include:
- Styrofoam
- Window pane glass
- Mirror glass
- Pyrex glass
- Plastic shower curtains
- Swimming pool liners or baby pools
- Child car seats
- Large plastic toys
- Vinyl siding from homes
- PVC pipe
- Lawn chairs
- Venetian blinds
- Strings of Christmas lights
- Coat hangers, both wire, and plastic
- Rubbermaid totes
- Any container larger than a five-gallon bucket
- Adhesives/glues
- Drywall compound
- Putty and spackling compound
- Roofing compound
- Driveway sealants
- Empty paint cans (can be thrown away)
- Old dried paint (can be thrown away)
- Latex paints (can be thrown away once dried out)
CHARM services are also provided by the Logan County Solid Waste District in partnership with the Logan County Commissioners’ Logan County Haz Mat Team. Services are available on August 5th (from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm) and 16th (from 4:00 to 7:00 pm), as well as September 2nd (from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm), 20th (from 4:00 to 7:00 pm), and 30th (from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm).
At those times, the South Detroit Street facility will accept used motor oil, brake fluid, transmission fluid, and antifreeze for free so long as the liquids are delivered in non-leaking, closed containers, not including 55-gallon drums. It will also accept lead acid (auto/boat/motorcycle) batteries so long as they are not cracked or leaking acid, liquid mercury in a secure jar, mercury thermometers and barometers, and mercury switches (thermostats and auto switches) at no charge.
CHARM items that the waste district accepts for a fee:
- Televisions and monitors ($10.00 each)
- Small tires ($1.50 each)
- Passenger car tires ($2.50 each)
- Pick-up truck tires ($3.50 each)
- Semi-truck tires ($9.00 each)
- Rims (extra charge)
- Farm Implement Tires: small front ($15.00 each), medium rear ($25.00 each), large rear ($40.00 each), rims (extra charge)
- Oil-based paint (25 cents per pound)
- Oil-based paint in spray cans (25 cents per pound)
- Stains and varnishes (25 cents per pound)
- Turpentine and mineral spirits (25 cents per pound)
- Linseed oil (25 cents per pound)
- Water sealants (25 cents per pound)
- Fluorescent lights (30 cents each)
- Fluorescent light tubes up to 8 feet long (30 cents each)
- Fluorescent U-tubes, circular tubes (30 cents each)
- Compact fluorescent light bulbs (30 cents each)
- Cleaning solutions (25 cents per pound)
- Oven cleaners (25 cents per pound)
- Degreasers (25 cents per pound)
- Bleach (25 cents per pound)
- Ammonia (25 cents per pound)
- Polishes for wood, metal, and shoes (25 cents per pound)
- Auto cleaners, waxes, and debugger (25 cents per pound)
- Pool chemicals (25 cents per pound)
- Mothballs (25 cents per pound)
- Acids or bases like drain cleaners, for instance (25 cents per pound)
- Aerosol spray cans containing the above items (25 cents per pound)
- Fertilizers (25 cents per pound)
- Pesticides (25 cents per pound)
- Herbicide (25 cents per pound)
- Fungicide (25 cents per pound)
- Plant food (25 cents per pound)
- Poisons (25 cents per pound)
