North Missouri Solid Waste Management District - Region B was formed in 1992 in conjunction with Senate Bill 530, which created 20 solid waste districts in Missouri. Region B is the largest district consisting of 11 counties in north central Missouri including Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, Daviess, Grundy, Harrison, Linn, Livingston, Mercer, Putnam, and Sullivan. There are 21 member cities.

The 2007-2008 fiscal year has been very busy in Region B. The District looked into leasing a building, so they could collect items and ship out full drums and pallets, instead of partial ones. In May 2008, the District leased a building from Green Hills Rural Development, Inc. With a lot of planning this building will be a great asset to the District and allow the District to do more with waste diversion. Collections are held for four weeks in the spring and four weeks in the fall. The items collected can be shipped out in two loads, instead of 8 different times for each product collected. This has cut our supply cost as we are shipping out full barrels and gaylords, making it more efficient for the District, while at the same time saving on emissions, and fuel surcharges.

In 2005, Region B received a grant from Missouri Department of Natural Resources to purchase and start a textile recycling program. This has been extremely successful. The trailer is moved throughout the District on a weekly basis. Textiles that are recycled include clothing, bedding, and shoes. The textiles are taken to Hope Haven Industries in Chillicothe, Missouri or High Hope in Milan, Missouri, for sorting. The Solid Waste District provides the trailer utilizing fees each city pays to participate in the textile program and the city which is hosting the trailer pays for the advertising. In the last three years this program has diverted over forty tons of textiles from the landfill.

NMSWMD Subgrants

District B is the largest district in the state and is miniumally funded. The District is allowed to spend half of the annual budget on administration and plan implementation and the remaining half on subgrants awarded to cities and counties. Ann Hamilton, NMSWMD - Region B, works with subgrantees on their application, tasks, timelines, and on developing goals that the subgrantees want to accomplish if funded by the District.

District Collections

District B uses grant funds from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources each year to collect banned items in our region. This service is a very beneficial for the environment. In a rural area a large amount of banned items are illegally dumped in ditches, creeks, or on personal property. Items that the Solid Waste District assists in collecting are tires, appliances, scrap metal, household hazardous waste, lead acid batteries, household batteries, and electronics. The District holds these collections throughout the region in the Spring and Fall.

During appliance collections, residents are encouraged to bring the following items: refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, hot water heaters, and air conditioners, for a fee of $5.00 per appliance. Scrap metals also included and such items as lawn mowers, swing sets, bicycles are accepted free of charge. The amount of scrap metal and appliances collected this year decreased because the price of scrap metal went up. Environmental Services of Iowa is the Districts contractor who picks up and recycles the collected appliances and scrap metal.

During tire collections, residents may bring four passenger tires per licensed driver free of charge, and each additional tire has a fee of $1.00. Tires over 36 inches have a fee of $4.00 each while tractor tires cost $10.00. These collections reduce the amount of tires being dumped into the environment. It is also creates a better environment for the community by reducing burning, mosquitoes, and bugs that dumped tires create. Mick Parkhurst of Eagleville, Missouri, is the Districts tire hauler who picks up and transports the tires to a recycling center.

The District collects household and rechargeable batteries at collections free of charge. The District also provides battery recycling buckets for household and rechargeable batteries that are located throughout the region. Residents may drop their batteries at the locations free of charge. The batteries are collected and sorted by the District. The batteries are packaged and to shipped to Battery Solutions for proper disposal.
In 2007, the District started collecting truck, tractor, and car batteries at every collection free of charge. These are taken to local battery recyclers in our District.

Household hazardous waste collections are conducted in each county every two years. This is a very popular collection, since people want to dispose of these materials in the proper manner. Items that we collect are latex paint, oil based paint, oil, household cleaners, furniture polish, floor wax, antifreeze, brake fluid, pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, paint thinner, paint strippers, varnish, etc.

Oil based and latex paint, as well as used oil is packaged into 55-gallon drums for shipment. The collections held this year produced 17 - 55 gallon drums of household hazardous waste. Pictured above are drums ready for shipment. Paint which is still in usable condition is taken back to the warehouse where people may have it to use free of charge.

During 2007/2008 the District collected a 6 cubic yard box of aerosols, a 6 cubic yard box of pesticides and herbicides, and 4 - 6 cubic yard boxes of miscellaneous items including varnishes, stains, paint strippers, tar, etc.

These collections help to keep the environment clean and diverts toxin from the landfills.

The North Missouri Solid Waste District held five electronic collections and they were very successful. The District collected 16,473 pounds of computers, monitors, television sets, printers, and copiers. The District has received many calls on this type of collection and will be holding more of these events in the future. Below is Computer Recycling Center, Springfield, Missouri, the Districts contractor for computers and Dewayne from New Hope loading the truck with a full load of electronics.