SUGGESTIONS GIVEN ON HOW TO GET RID OF REJECTED REFUSE

With residents facing new state-mandated restrictions on how much and the types of trash that are allowed in Missouri's landfills, Cape Girardeau officials have suggested the best way to discard "rejected" wastes.

Such rejected trash includes discarded appliances or "white goods," automobile batteries and tires, used motor oil, and grass clippings and other yard waste.

The Cape Girardeau Public Works Department and Recycling Center will collect some recyclable items, but there's no market for many types of trash.

Doug Kaminskey, the city's environmental services coordinator, said the city will continue to pick up discarded appliances through special arrangements. The charge for "Wednesday Special" collections for appliances is $10.

The charge helps defray the cost of collection and shipping. The city also must remove the motors and capacitors from the goods before shipping.

Also, residents can haul the appliances themselves to the city transfer station, adjacent to Lone Star Industries on South Sprigg.

Kaminskey suggested those with waste oil contact local service stations to see if they'll take the material. Used oil filters, provided they're drained of oil, can be placed in regular trash for collection. But a state law enacted last year likely will prohibit oil filters from landfills in 1994, he added.

Some local retail stores have advertised that they will accept used batteries for recycling. Residents also can drop batteries off at the city's recycling center on Broadview Street, behind the Public Works Building on North Kingshighway.

Kaminskey suggested consumers contact local automobile tire dealers about accepting used tires. Some of the local tire dealers will take the tires for a small fee, and most dealers will take old tires when new ones are installed.

Yard waste also is prohibited from Missouri landfills, and Kaminskey said the city is drafting a proposal for a city compost operation.

He said the proposal must first be approved by the city council. "Basically, it will be a plan to continue to pick up yard waste with the Wednesday Special and to compost at the landfill," Kaminskey said.

A seasonal yard waste, discarded Christmas trees, also will be prohibited from landfills in 1992.

But Kaminskey said the city's Parks and Recreation Department will continue to pick the trees up in conjunction with its "tree recycling" program. The "recycled" trees are clustered and anchored in area ponds and lakes for fish habitat, he said.

Senate Bill 530, enacted in 1990, promoted recycling, market development for recycled products, and recovery and reuse of energy from trash as ways to limit the use of landfills.

Probably the most ambitious tenet in the law is a requirement that by 1998 at least 40 percent of the recyclable waste be diverted from landfills. The law will be implemented in phases during the next eight years.

Kaminskey said the 1991-94 requirements won't have a significant impact on city trash operations. But he said the city will have to prepare for the 1998 mandate.

A $1.50-per-ton tax for landfill waste was implemented in Missouri last year, which will help fund local governments' recycling efforts, Kaminskey said.

A portion of the tax revenue will be set aside as grant money for recycling programs in various cities, counties and waste-management districts. Kaminskey said the fund should help defray some of the high recycling costs.

The Environmental Protection Agency last week also proposed rules to prevent ground-water contamination by leaky municipal solid-waste dumps. The EPA estimated the landfill rules would cost about $330 million a year nationwide and would increase the cost of solid-waste disposal by about $4 per household per year.

Among key requirements, the regulations call for all landfill operators to monitor ground water around dump sites to detect leakage of contaminated seepage from buried waste. Roughly 25 percent of all landfills, including those at Cape Girardeau and Jackson, now have monitoring systems in place.