By Briley Gargis
InkFreeNews

WARSAW – The Board of Directors for the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District decided on Tuesday, April 28, to temporarily suspend its latex paint recycling program because of the pandemic.

The decision was made during the board’s monthly meeting, which was conducted through WEBEX, a video meeting service similar to Zoom.

The board chose to “suspend the latex paint recycling program until we can understand how to prevent transference of COVID-19 at the point of customer drop-off and in our processing for recycling or for distribution through our re-use room.” said Tom Ganser, district director.

The latex recycling program is conducted in the re-use room at the KC Recycling building in Warsaw. The room will be closed until further notice.

Latex paint is a non-hazardous material and can be dried up and disposed of in residential trash, Ganser said.

Ganser added, “If you mix the paint with equal parts of sawdust, oil dry, paint dry or kitty litter and let it sit open for a day or two, the mixture will dry and can be disposed of in your normal trash.”

Ganser also noted that if the warning label says to clean up with mineral spirits then it is oil-based, and KC Recycling will take it when they are able to get needed personal protective equipment and open up the collection process again to the public.

When the facility is able to reopen they will again be able to start taking household hazardous waste but will be by appointment-only and away from the general drop-off location at the building’s south end. 

Along with discussing the suspension of paint recycling, the board also mentioned that the county was ordering a pallet of hand sanitizer from a company in Elkhart.

Additional information can be found on KC Recycling’s Website where there is also a video posted about drying paint.

The next board meeting will take place at 11 a.m., Tuesday, May 26.