Photo by Deb Gau Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder explained how the county’s mattress recycling program breaks down old mattresses into recyclable and non-recyclable materials. The county collected more than 3,000 mattresses last year that would otherwise have taken up valuable landfill space

MARSHALL — The past couple of years have seen some changes in how Lyon County collects paper, plastic and other materials for recycling. But the amount of recyclables picked up has stayed relatively stable, said Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder.

The county’s curbside recycling pickup collected 1,267 tons of material in 2021, Schroeder told Lyon County commissioners on Tuesday.

“The tonnage has stayed about the same,” as in previous years, Schroeder said. “It seems as though our programs are running well.”

The county’s recycling and hazardous waste programs have been relatively stable, although the COVID pandemic has changed a couple of things over the past two years, Schroeder said.

He gave commissioners an update on recycling and waste collection programs in the county. In addition to the recyclables collected at the curb, Lyon County collected 320 tons of recyclables at community drop sites last year.

Schroeder said the county had fewer problems with non-recyclable waste being dumped in recycling bins over the past year. In Marshall, the recycling drop-off site was moved closer to the county public works building on Fairgrounds Road. In the past year, the county has also put out “cages” to collect bags of shredded paper at the Marshall drop site, Schroeder said.

Drop-off sites at the Lyon County public works building also collected thousands of pounds of waste for recycling that would otherwise have taken up landfill space, Schroeder said. In 2021, they collected about 3,100 mattresses, 98 car seats, 13,500 pounds of Styrofoam, and 6,860 pounds of shredded paper.

Other items collected included bales of clothing for recycling, fluorescent light bulbs and electronic waste.

Lyon County’s household hazardous waste saw a sharp reduction in visitors over the past couple of years, due to the COVID pandemic. Part of that was due to the times that the drop-off site was open by appointment only. But the volume of hazardous materials like paint and batteries dropped off at the facility was still similar to past years, Schroeder said.

Lyon County customers drop off an average of around 39,000 pounds of household hazardous waste a year, and in 2021 they dropped off a total of almost 48,000 pounds.

Region-wide, about 226,000 pounds of household hazardous waste was collected for disposal.

Schroeder said one change in recycling over the past couple of years has been an increased demand for 95-gallon curbside pickup bins. In 2019, the county switched to picking up recycling every other week, and more people were interested in larger carts.

On Tuesday, county commissioners approved a request to purchase 247 of the 95-gallon bins for about $16,000. Schroeder said the funding for the bins would come from solid waste assessment revenues.