Boone Grove Compost Site to Open April 23

The Boone Grove compost site, 400 West 550 South , will open for the season Monday, April 23, 2012, from noon to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The site, owned and operated by the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County, is currently closed.

Porter County residents are encouraged to drop off their organic yard waste, grass clippings, leaves, garden clippings, household plants, brush, limbs, logs and firewood at the site, where they will be recycled into compost and mulch. Treated wood or lumber is not accepted.

Residents can also bring their old or unusable electronics (anything with an electrical cord or powered by batteries), spent compact fluorescent light bulbs and batteries to the Boone Grove compost site for proper disposal.

The Valparaiso compost site, located at 2150 W. Lincolnway, is already open for the season from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The site is owned by the City of Valparaiso, and the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County helps to maintain it and staff the guard house.

Except for grass clippings, Porter County residents can recycle the same kinds of materials at the Valpo site that are accepted at the Boone Grove site.

A limited amount of compost and mulch are currently available at both compost sites for Porter County residents to take. Residents should bring shovels and buckets. More mulch will be available toward the end of April after a scheduled grinding takes place.

The City of Valparaiso and the Recycling and Waste Reduction District of Porter County will mark International Compost Awareness Week from May 7 through 12 at the Valparaiso compost site. The city will load compost for residents for free from 9 a.m. to noon.

The Ohio University-Lancaster campus will host a community disposal day and drug drop-off from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 28 in the north parking lot at OU-L, 1570 Granville Pike, Lancaster.

Among the items that will be accepted are batteries, computer equipment, cellphones, telephone books and unused or outdated prescription medications. Residents also can bring up to two boxes of confidential documents to be shredded.

Paint, household chemicals, compact fluorescent light bulbs, televisions and medical equipment will not be accepted.