ASHLAND — There may be a lot of waste at the Ashland County Fairgrounds on May 2.
“This is a very popular program,” James Skora, Ashland County Solid Waste District coordinator, said Thursday morning of the district’s annual household hazardous waste and paint collection event.
“It does ebb and flow in our participation depending on weather and other events. But we have a strong 500 to 700 cars come out to the fairgrounds every year,” Skora said.
The event is set for May 2 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (rain or shine) at the Ashland County Fairgrounds, 2042 Claremont Ave. Folks dropping off items are instructed to enter through the main gate on Claremont Avenue and will exit onto South Baney Road.
This free opportunity is available to Ashland County residents only. Proof of residency will be required.
Skora said a program guide for the solid waste district was distributed to all 22,000 households throughout the county.
Below is a reminder of what items will be accepted on May 2 and those which will not:
Skora stressed the importance of proper disposal of lithium batteries — which are an accepted item at the May 2 event.
“Every single day in this country there are fires at either landfills, transfer stations or recycling facilities because of lithium batteries,” he said. “They’re becoming more and more prevalent in all of the electronics that we use as consumers.”
No business, school, government or farm wastes will be accepted at the event.
Solid waste education specialist to retire in June
In other action Thursday, the Ashland County Board of Commissioners accepted the resignation of Nancy Earick, solid waste education specialist, for purposes of retirement.
Her last working day will be June 30.
Skora, who’s worked with Earick for the past four years, said she has worked for the solid waste district for the past 25 years.
Commissioner James Justice said Earick has been a great asset to the community and will be dearly missed.
“What Nancy has done over the 25 years, as an independent contractor by the way, is outstanding. The numbers, the metrics, how many presentations she’s done and working with the schools is just outstanding,” Skora said.
“It was an honor for me to work with her over the few short years when we did all the changes with the district. She will be a big loss. But I’m very happy for her and her husband, Mike, because he retired last year,” he said. “Hard to replace that, but we’ll give it a shot.”
