(Spirit Lake)– For many lakes area cities, the dilemma over what do with landscape waste is impending. For one, it’s already here.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has already shut down several sites cities have used in the past to dump tree limbs and yard waste. The agency is threatening to shut down others. They’re requiring the cities to adopt compost programs.
Representatives of the cities of Okoboji, West Okoboji, Arnolds Park, Spirit Lake, Milford and Wahpeton were at today’s (Tues.) Dickinson county board of supervisors meeting asking if the county has a location that could be used as a composting site. County Engineer Dan Eckert said a 38 acre site is available west of Milford, but he recommended some sort of formal agreement be put together between the counties and cities. No action was taken as a result. The cities are in the process of reviving the Dickinson County Landfill Commission, which will research the issue.
Meanwhile, the situation for Okoboji is getting desperate. That city’s yard waste disposal site is among those the D-N-R has closed. City Administrator Dennis Daly says hundreds of bags of yard waste are piling up all over town, and the city has nowhere to go with it. Daly says the city is no longer picking up yard waste until further notice.
He’s concerned that many residents may revert back to burning if a solution isn’t found soon, with the peak of the leaf season just a week or so away.
