Ashland County solid-waste coordinator reports 2025 recycling gains, plans RFP for contract

Jim Skorra, Ashland County Solid Waste District coordinator, told the Board of Commissioners on Jan. 22 that the district’s 2025 recycling and collection programs recorded substantial volumes and that the district will seek new bids when the contractor’s five-year term ends June 30.

Skorra said the district’s youth-education contractor ran about 352 presentations reaching roughly 7,900 children and distributed 61 curricula to about 1,358 students. "She also does lots of different programs," Skorra said, noting outreach at county fairs and school events.

On recycling operations, Skorra reported the district served 15 drop-off sites and recorded roughly 1,200,000 pounds of material in 2025, a small increase from 2024. He said the district bought four new containers for about $8,000 and has relocated or added containers at several sites to support growth. "We did buy 4 new containers…that was about $8,000," Skorra said.

Skorra outlined tire-collection totals, saying the scrap-tire voucher program handled about 2,500 tires (about 110,000 pounds) at an estimated cost of $15,000, and that the farm-tire event collected roughly 99,000 pounds; together, he said, the two tire programs totaled about 209,000 pounds in 2025. "That's 209,000 pounds of tires collected between our two programs," he said.

For household hazardous waste, Skorra told commissioners the May 2025 event served about 592 households and brought in approximately 65,000 pounds of material; he reported disposal-related costs near $39,000. He said the annual electronics collection had about 357 participants in 2025 and a listed cost of $16,459.

Skorra said outreach has been effective: in a post-event tally he cited, 46% of attendees reported seeing the district flyer, about 26% from mail, 4% from Facebook, 3–4% from local sources and roughly 19% from the website. "It was mailed in, 26% was Facebook," he said, summarizing respondents' answers.

The coordinator announced 2026 collection dates: household hazardous waste on May 2 at the fairgrounds (8 a.m.–1 p.m.), a farm-tire event (registration only) on Aug. 11, and the electronic-waste/TV collection on Oct. 10 (8 a.m.–1 p.m.).

Skorra also discussed contracting: the current five-year contract for drop-off services ends June 30, and he said the district will issue an RFP and route it for legal and staff review with advertising expected around March and bids due several weeks later. "We're gonna go out for an RFP this year…we'll be coming to you in the next couple weeks to advertise those," he said.

On finances, Skorra described the district as largely fee-supported. Designated disposal facilities pay an $8-per-ton fee that he estimated generates about $380,000 and a separate $3-per-ton post-closure charge that he estimated produces roughly $120,000; he also said the district is doing modest deficit spending but has fund balance and grant options. He noted post-closure regulatory work will increase costs this year, citing an estimate of about $125,000 for inspections and well closures.

Skorra emphasized operational challenges such as contamination (grocery-style bags and certain plastics) and described an educational "tagging" program at sites to address misuse. He warned that depositing trash or improperly bagged material at drop-off sites can be treated as litter and cited the penalty figures given in the meeting. "It's a $500 fine up to 60 days in jail," he said, describing the litter statute as presented to the board.

Skorra identified the district as small-staffed: Nancy is a contract educator and he said he is the district’s sole part-time employee, with remaining work handled by contractors and limited county staff support. He reported the district budget in the meeting transcript as "308,390"; the county did not provide further breakdown in the public remarks.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about compliance, bags, and what types of plastic are accepted; Skorra said grocery-style bags should be returned to retail drop-off points (for example, stores that collect plastic bags) because bags cause contamination in the drop-off stream. He closed by reaffirming outreach and branding efforts and the intent to proceed with the RFP for contracting.

What happens next: the district expects to return to the commissioners with the planned RFP and to present contract advertisements and bid evaluations in the coming months.