Talkin' trash

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jul 13, 2008

Thanks a lot, Geary County.

You sent us 3,583 tons of your trash in May. Geary and 10 other municipalities made up approximately 40 percent of May's 27,561 tons of waste piled on the trash hill up US-75 highway north of town.

In all, Rolling Meadows Recycling accepted about 320,000 tons of trash in 2007. Jason Chan, Rolling Meadows district manager, projects another 340,000 tons will enter the facility in 2008. But a significant portion of that travels from outside Shawnee County.

Snarkiness aside, Chan says Shawnee County really should thank those who deliver their trash from as far away as Ellis and Sedgwick counties. That's because for every ton of trash that enters the Rolling Meadows gates, Shawnee County receives $1.50. That translates to about $480,000 in 2007.

Below is a list of from which counties and cities 98 percent of May's trash came and approximately how much each delivered.Shawnee

- 16,536 tons

Geary

- 3,583 tons

Miami

- 2,204 tons

Ellis

- 1,378 tons

Cloud

- 827 tons

Seneca

- 827 tons

Pottawatomie

- 276 tons

Nemaha

- 276 tons

Mitchell

- 276 tons

Sedgwick

- 276 tons

Jackson

- Less than 1%

Osage

- Less than 1%