Non-residents using Hortonville’s compost site
By John Faucher
The Hortonville Public Works Committee is looking at ways to trim down the amount of brush and yard waste that non-residents are illegally dumping at its compost site.
Hortonville Public Works Director Carl McCrary told the committee that the yard waste site has been receiving a significant amount of brush from surrounding communities.
“It’s always been an issue to some degree, but the more the countryside urbanizes, more and more people do not have a place to take their yard waste,” said McCrary.
Hortonville’s collection site is supposed to be open to village residents only.
McCrary said over the last couple of years as new developments and subdivisions grow in neighboring townships, more brush and yards waste is finding its way into the village.
He added that a recent quote to have the accumulating waste processed and removed was over $7,000.
“The village budget for the site is $5,000 for the entire year,” said McCrary.
“We estimate that over half [of the waste] is coming from outside the village of Hortonville,” McCrary said.
In many cases, non-residents feel they can use the service because they have a Hortonville postal address.
“They’re either just misinformed, or outright feel they are entitled to use the site because of their address,” said McCrary.
Some larger communities are able to afford equipment and the staff required to process and turn yard waste into marketable products such as mulch and top soil.
“You can break even on compost sites, but the village does not have the money or the equipment to screen it, and turn it every week into marketable compost.
“Right now our compost site does not bring in any revenue to the village of Hortonville. It’s a liability, but we do it as a service to the tax payers,” said McCrary.
Hortonville’s yard waste site is located at 521 W. Cedar near the wastewater treatment plant. It is open seven days a week during daylight hours. Village residents using the site are asked to provide proof of residency in either a driver’s license or utility bill.
McCrary said the village has issued ordinance violation tickets in the past for illegal dumping or non-resident dumping at the site. However, the problem is paying for site supervision.
“These people come in all day long and we can’t afford to watch it24/7,” said McCrary.
Hortonville’s site is currently non-gated and does not have an assigned staff member on the property. Signs contain site rules and they indicate the use of video surveillance, but McCrary said signs don’t always deter illegal dumpers.
The village public works committee is looking into putting up a fence and gate at the site and limiting the hours of operation in the future.
On Thursday, July 19, the committee directed McCrary to reach out to neighboring townships and ask them to inform their residents that they are not allowed to dump yard waste in Hortonville.
“We actually don’t have any issues with our neighboring communities. We all get along pretty well, but I think what we need is some education on the part of where and what they can do with their yard waste in their communities,” said McCrary.
He said he would not be opposed to residents from other townships using the site if the village could receive some financial contribution to help support the service.
“The issue would kind of go away if we had the revenue to get rid of it,” said McCrary.
In the meantime he said the public works committee will continue to explore its options.
“There is no easy answer,” said McCrary.