Congratulations and you should be proud Lyon County for considering alternatives for things we no longer want or need instead of throwing things away — you recycled like never before! I could never be so proud of all of your hard work this past year and I am really looking forward to what we all can do in ’22.

Curbside and community recycling numbers looked great this past year. We recycled over 1,600 tons of empty, food containers and paper this past year. Well done! This means that these items were kept from going into the landfill and instead were reused or repurposed into something else!

We are so lucky to have other programs in Lyon County where we can dispose of items without having them end up in the landfill. These items are usually recycled in other ways and are not placed into curbside or community recycling containers. This means you, Lyon County, took the initiative to bring these items to the landfill collection site or to the Household Hazardous Waste facility/Environmental office. Yes, it means that there is a little more work on your end but you did it! Now, we can be proud of the extra work that you have done!

The following items were either recycled or disposed of in another fashion and did not go into the landfill or were thrown away.

We recycled over 1,600 appliances, which include microwave ovens and dehumidifiers along with ovens, freezers, stoves and so forth. These go to a collection point at the landfill.

We recycled almost 165,000 pounds of tires. These tires are often shredded and made into other products. These go to a collection point at the landfill.

We recycled almost 115,000 pounds of electronic waste, which includes computers, televisions and so forth.

We recycled over 3,000 mattresses in 2021! Mattresses take up so much of the landfill space but since you decided to recycle them, we not only saved the space but these items were made into something else like pet beds.

We recycled over 1,000 pounds of car seats. 13,000 pounds plus of rigid Styrofoam. Over 8,000 pounds of books and almost 7,000 pounds of shredded paper.

The Household Hazardous Waste facility saw about 1,000 visitors in 2021, which helped to recycle over 8,000 Fluorescent tubes, almost 3,000 pounds of batteries and 750 pounds of sharps (needles).

We also were able to give away 182 refurbished computers to those who were in need and recycled over 46,000 pounds of clothing in 2021.

We also have programs that we offer in partnership with area DAC programs. Through these programs, we have been able to recycle over 35,000 pounds of Christmas lights and wires. In addition, 60,000 pounds of shrink-wrap and plastic bags.

Thank you Lyon County for considering alternative options to throwing things away and for reducing, reusing and recycling as much as you can! The staff at the Environmental Department and the Lyon County Landfill are here to assist you with questions about how or where to dispose of items you no longer want or need. Please call us at (507) 532-1307.