Three schools (Tracy Elementary, Lakeview Elementary and Samuel Lutheran) in Lyon County and the Environmental Department would like to challenge the residents in Lyon County to “Recycle Beyond the Bag.” Schools were invited to join the Environmental Department in collecting plastic shopping bags and plastic film items, which will be turned in to Hy-Vee. Hy-Vee, in turn, will turn in our items for us to a company called Trex. The schools are part of the Great Plains Region Challenge and will receive a free Trex item (Trex is a manufacturer of decking and patio furniture made from recycled plastic shopping bags and recycled plastic film items) for just signing up. If any of the schools are the winner of their school section, they have a chance to win a free park bench for their school made from the recycled items. The Environmental Department is also in a Community Challenge, which is also taking place now. We have a container located within the Household Hazardous Waste Facility for residents to drop off their plastic shopping bags and plastic film. We can also win a free park bench made from recycled plastic shopping bags and plastic film.

The items that we all take are: produce bags (potato bags, carrot bags, etc.), plastic shopping bags, ice bags, Ziploc and other reclosable bags, cereal box liners, case overwrap (from toilet paper, paper towels, etc.), bread bags, newspaper sleeves, dry cleaning bags, bubble wrap and plastic e-commerce mailers. These items must be clean, dry and free of food and organic residue. Once you start collecting your items, you can turn them into one of the three schools or into the Household Hazardous Waste facility in Marshall.

We offer all sorts of ways to dispose of items. If you are wondering about any particular item, please go over to the Lyon County redesigned website. The website is also mobile friendly so when you pull it up on your smart phone, it will have “buttons” including a button for recycling. We now have a disposal guide on the website for you to review on how to dispose of items that you no longer want or need. There is a new recycling webpage that has the 2020 every other week pickup schedule along with the 2020 recycling guide. These guides will also be mailed to every resident in Lyon County before Christmas! Please keep your eyes open for this newsletter! It will also include our information on what kind of Styrofoam we will be taking starting Jan. 2, 2020.

This month we have a few reminders for residents about recycling. If you are recycling cardboard, please flatten it. This helps to keep the recycling rolloffs and carts from getting so full so fast!

We are also seeing a lot of either non-recyclable items or recyclable items showing up in cardboard only containers which are located in Marshall, Tracy, Balaton and Cottonwood. If the recycling rolloffs are full, please come back to drop off your recycling. Please call the Lyon County Environmental Department to let us know if there are any problems at the drop site locations so we can quickly take care of the situation. Please use the cardboard containers for cardboard only.

If you have curbside carts, please remember we are on an every other week program. If your cart was not picked up it could be from several things including: carts must be out to the curb the night before pick up, the cart was sitting too close to a vehicle or other item, there was something in the cart that cannot be recycled, the cart was placed out on a weekday that there wasn’t any curbside pick up. Please watch for what week Lyon county residents have pickup and which there is not pickup. We are still seeing a lot of carts out on non-pickup days.

The Environmental Department looks forward to working with the residents of Lyon County in 2020. And remember, as we go into the new decade and into the New Year, it’s reduce first, reuse second and recycle what is left, third. For more information on recycling or disposing items, please call the office telephone at 507532-8210 or email LyonEnvironmental@co.lyon.mn.us.