Solid Waste District to open residential side on Monday

MEDINA — Starting Monday, the Medina County Solid Waste District will open the residential side of its campus, which will now be separate for commercial traffic. "The reason why they decided to do this construction was to separate out the residents from the commercial traffic in order to keep traffic from backing up all the way to U.S. Route 224 on a Saturday, which sometimes it does," MCSWD Director Barbara Walton said. Walton, who started in Decembe, said that the construction project has been underway for about two years. Before she came in as director, Medina County Sanitary Engineer Jeremy Sinko led the project and continued to do so from the construction aspect. With less than a week before opening the residential side, Walton said the contractors are finishing up the final tasks. "They are doing that final checklist and getting that all done," Walton said. "I believe we will be done before Friday." In preparation for Monday, Walton said that the MCSWD is working with a company to do pavement markings, in addition to putting in parking stops at the bulk waste area to keep people from backing into the new fencing. In addition, the company will put up signage to direct residents on where they are going to go. Walton said that in the past, the second entrance to the MCSWD has been blocked off but will now be open for residents. "That's going to be a residential side," she said. "There is a sign that says residential entrance and then there's a sign that says commercial entrance." Walton also noted that the MCSWD only takes specialty waste, like tires, electronics and hazardous waste, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Once the new campus opens on Monday, Walton said they hope to create a drive-thru area for the specialty waste, making it easier for residents to drop items off. "Hopefully, it won't be too confusing," Walton said about the changes. "Bear with us, because I am sure (we) will have to make some changes before this is all set in stone." To learn more about the MCSWD, visit recyclemedinacounty.com. Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.