Does recycling make a difference? Take a look

Garbage? Nope. County Landfill Manager Mark Kunkel adds a pallet to the stack of clean waste wood at the Plymouth County Landfill. This mountain of wood, plus separated metal and tires, won't get buried -- it'll be recycled, possibly saving more than 10 years of landfill life. [Click to enlarge]

You've heard all the rah-rahs about saving the planet and recycling with Earth Day and Arbor Day this month, and you're probably wondering, does any of it matter?

County landfill manager Mark Kunkel has two words for you.

Fifteen years.

That's how much longer he predicts recycling could add to the Plymouth County landfill.

"It's really a huge cost savings to the residents of Plymouth County," Kunkel said. "Every one of us in the county owns this place."

When the landfill was started in 1974, it was only supposed to last 15 years, according to stories Kunkel has heard.

Try 33 years and counting.

"We're still here," Kunkel said. "And right now we're looking at 40 years to go."

The 40-acre county landfill is used only to bury construction and demolition waste, or C and D, while, since 1989, other household waste gets trucked to Cherokee. So the type of recycling that affects the local landfill is different than putting plastic, glass and paper in a separate container.

A few years ago, the landfill started separating metal out to be baled and used as iron. Rubber tires get pulled out and sent to Nebraska, where they're ground up and recycled. And recently, Kunkel connected with a Sioux Falls wood chipping company that agreed to remove clean waste wood and trees for free.

If people separate wood from shingles, metal and sheetrock, Mueller Pallets will pick it up, leaving Plymouth County less to bury.

"We roughly bring in 9,000 tons of C and D," Kunkel said. "Taking the wood and iron out, we can reduce that. But once you bury it, it's gone."

As a landfill manager, Kunkel has an unusual motto: "We try not to let anything go to waste."

Even the waste concrete is separated out, ground to gravel, and used for roads at the landfill site.

Once the county landfill is full, they'll have to buy and prepare a new site, an expensive venture, he explained. On top of that, they have to maintain the old landfill for 30 years after the day its gates close.

Kunkel tipped his hat to the 14-member county landfill board and their proactive views.

"Our board is really into recycling, prolonging the life of the landfill, protecting the environment," Kunkel said.

As for recycling household goods like cans, plastic containers and paper, the numbers have nearly doubled in the past year.

While this recycling doesn't directly affect the Plymouth County landfill's space, it does save money, and that gets passed on to county residents. While it costs the county so much per ton of household waste taken to Cherokee, that landfill actually gives a $15 payback per ton of recyclables.

Thanks to a recent grant, household recycling has picked up in rural Plymouth County. The grant provided blue dumpsters in the rural communities of the county so rural residents wouldn't have to drive all the way to the landfill to bring in recyclables.

"It's really taking off," Kunkel said. "In July through December, we ran about 23,000 to 29,000 pounds of recycling. Since the grant started in January, we're getting 35,000 to 42,000 pounds."

He said he gets phone calls every day about people asking how they can get involved and where they can bring recyclables.

"A goal I set myself is to have 300 tons of recycling by the end of the year," Kunkel said. "We're over halfway there."