Wildcat Solid Waste officials discussed a plan to expand drop-off recycling access by acquiring roll-off/front-load containers from a neighboring county and using the district's rainy-day fund to start the service.

Joel, the district director, told the board that Werner and Sons currently handles most of the district's recycling and that changes in the city's operations mean drop-off sorting at the street-department facility will end in 2026. Instead, curbside collections and public drop-offs would be loaded directly into a truck and taken to Werner and Sons, and gate attendants would check IDs to restrict use to local residents.

Joel said Howard County ' where Kokomo is the primary city ' recently converted surplus roll-off containers to front-load bins and offered those containers to neighboring districts. He said the district might need two to three containers to avoid overflow and described the units as lockable roll-off-style containers suitable for transport.

On costs, Joel reported disposal fees to Warner/Warner's (Werner and Sons) of about $2,500 annually for processing and said the primary expense would be hauling. Joel said Wamplers charges $89 per pull for a roll-off, which could translate to roughly $9,000'$10,000 a year in hauling if containers are pulled frequently. He told the board the district currently lacks that ongoing funding in the solid-waste budget.

To launch the program, Joel proposed using the solid-waste rainy-day fund, which he said holds about $47,000. He cautioned that rainy-day money could support start-up costs for about two years but may not be sustainable long term; he said the board might need to seek a modest tax-rate increase or share ongoing costs with the city to make the program permanent.

Board members asked Joel to check container availability and costs, explore an interlocal agreement the neighboring county could provide, and bring a recommendation to the next board meeting. Joel said he would consult Jeff (county contact) and email the board with findings.

The board's discussion did not adopt a final funding plan; members suggested involving the County Council before committing rainy-day funds or altering the tax rate.