CHARLO — Sometimes in rural communities, it can be difficult to get rid of larger solid waste materials like construction and demolition items or even household items like mattresses.
However, Lake County Solid Waste made it a little bit easier by bringing the landfill closer.
The Lake County landfill sits in Polson and as the county’s Solid Waste Director, Stacey Kintigh told MTN, the landfill only accepts specific items, like construction materials, pallets, and lumber.
“The fact is, our landfill does not take or receive or is licensed for household trash,” he stated.
Trash and recycling from residences either have to be paid for in advance — which is a fee of $180 — to be picked up in curbside bins, or people have to dispose of it themselves in Missoula’s landfill.
Heading to a landfill north or south may not be an option for some Mission Valley residents or can be a far drive for others.
To help with that burden, Lake County Solid Waste hosted a pay-to-throw event at the Charlo Transfer Site on January 5, 2024, for people to get rid of trash closer to home.
“You don’t have to drive 30 minutes to get to your facility for dumping, for your trash service. That’s a long haul for some of these folks,” shared Kintigh.
“We’re just trying to reach out to these rural sites and making it more convenient for the people that live out here," Lead Monitor at the Charlo event Terrace Sias explained.“We live in such a beautiful area you know it sucks to be driving down a back road and you see all this garbage on the side of the road when we can help prevent that by offering services like this.”
Prices were set at $10 per cubic yard and garbage items were measured by Lake County Solid Waste monitors. After payment, people drove their trash to a monitor-directed location.
Solid waste drivers then hauled the items away to the correct landfills.
This was the second event Lake County Solid Waste has offered. The first took place in Ferndale and they hope to continue the service in other rural locations.
Check Lake County Solid Waste’s Facebook page for updates.
