Allen County leaders are in the planning process for a new recycling program.
“We’re not ready to announce it at this time,” County Commissioner David Lee announced at Tuesday’s weekly meeting. “But something is forthcoming.”
Lee said the plan should be ready sometime in the next 30 to 45 days.
Mitch Garner, director of public works, has had preliminary talks with Iola Mayor Steve French. Those conversations will continue, Lee said.
“We may not talk about it publicly over the next two, three or four meetings,” Lee said. “We’re working through some things. We ask those who are enthusiastic about it to please be patient.”
County commissioners and Iola City Council members have heard frequently in recent weeks from Allen County Recycling members Dan Davis and Steve Strickler, both of whom have been critical of the city and county’s delay in getting a joint program in place.
Both the city and county agreed last fall to dedicate one employee to a recycling endeavor, although Iola officials noted at the time they had no money in the budget for such an employee in 2026.
Allen County Recycling relies exclusively on volunteers, as they collect cardboard, plastics, glass and other recyclables at a depot in the old Thompson Chicken plant in east Iola.
The endeavor has been so successful, Davis and Strickler note frequently, that it’s become too much for the small non-profit organization to handle.
LEE DESCRIBED the county’s plans as a “six-month solution.”
“We want to make sure what we do is going to be accepted by the county,” he said. “If it’s well received at the end of that six months, we’ll continue doing it, and we’ll add to it.”
Lee also cautioned the county-city program may look different than the one already in place.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Lee said.
In a related matter, Garner provided commissioners with a report noting how much refuse is brought into the landfill.
He noted the landfill operates as an enterprise, and generates revenue from waste brought in from 13 neighboring counties.
In fact, Allen County’s 14,000 tons equated to about 14 percent of all waste taken to the landfill in 2025.
