Jane Forrest Redfern

The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District's Strategic Plan aims to reduce, reuse, and recycle solid waste, promoting sustainable materials management and eliminating adverse environmental and public health impacts. Key priorities include ensuring convenient recycling access, increasing public awareness, expanding composting, and addressing illegal dumping. The plan also focuses on strengthening partnerships, developing markets for recyclables to foster a circular economy, and achieving a residential/commercial waste reduction and recycling rate exceeding 25% by expanding services and education.

This document is an update to the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste Management Plan for the period 2025-2040. The plan's primary objective is to meet state-mandated solid waste reduction and recycling goals, specifically achieving at least a 25% recycling rate. Key strategic areas include maintaining and expanding recycling infrastructure such as drop-off sites and specialized collection events, developing programs for household hazardous waste and electronics, and implementing comprehensive education and outreach initiatives. The plan also details funding mechanisms through generation fees, landfill rates, and user fees, and outlines the multi-stage approval process involving local jurisdictions and the OEPA.

This document is the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District's Ratified Plan Update, serving as a roadmap for solid waste management over a fifteen-year period from 2018 to 2032. The plan outlines strategies for managing facilities and programs, assessing progress towards statewide recycling and waste reduction goals, and detailing financial resources. Key areas include inventories of existing facilities and activities, population and waste generation statistics, projections for the planning period, methods for solid waste management, and district rules. It aims to ensure continued compliance with waste reduction and recycling targets, adequate access to disposal capacity, and financial sustainability for the District's operations.

The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste Management Plan 2025-2040 outlines the district's strategy to comply with state mandates for proper solid waste disposal and recycling access. Key objectives include achieving at least 25% reduction and recycling goals, conducting education and outreach, developing specialized programs for tires, household hazardous waste, and electronics, fostering economic incentives, and market development. The draft plan details initiatives such as acquiring and operating recycling centers, organizing recycling events, establishing chemical collection programs, and providing grants for community clean-ups and illegal dumping prevention. The plan proposes a $24 annual parcel fee to ensure sustainable funding, preserve critical recycling infrastructure, and support local economic development and community health.

The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District is holding public hearings to pass a resolution to charge a Parcel Fee on improved parcels in Athens and Hocking Counties. This fee will fund the Athens-Hocking Recycling Center, the Sutton Road Recycling Center, and the implementation of the Solid Waste District Management Plan. The plan aims to provide access and programs for solid waste disposal, recycling, diverting hard-to-recycle materials, recycling days, and household hazardous waste disposal.