Marshall County Landfill in Iowa Opens Onsite ‘Swap Shop’ for Household Hazardous Chemicals

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Marshall County Landfill (MCL) Recycling Education Coordinator Jennifer Clemann and General Manager Don Ballalatak are always looking for new ways to improve the services at the facility located just west of Marshalltown, and they have recently benefited from an Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) grant that allowed for the creation of a “Swap Shop” where residents can recycle their hazardous household materials.

According to Clemann, such materials had previously been sent down to the Metro Waste Authority in Des Moines, but the grant for $6,565 helped MCL staff construct a shed with shelving, a cart and a scale next to the household hazardous waste building to keep them here in Marshall County. “We can put it in our Swap Shop. People can come in and shop it for free and take things that they need,” she said.

The scale is a helpful tool for tracking how much people are bringing in and taking out of the Swap Shop to show how much material they’re keeping from ending up at Metro Waste. Ballalatak said that while he hadn’t necessarily heard of a huge demand for such a service, it seemed like a nice offering to provide. “We thought it might be a good option for us to have in the area,” he said.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com