La Crosse hazardous waste disposal program losing money

County board will consider increase in fees

One La Crosse County program seems to be a victim of its own success.

The household hazardous waste disposal program is so popular with county residents, it’s losing money.

The county doesn’t charge most users to bring those used cleaning products and paints to the landfill site.

“We’ve been averaging 10,000 users per year the last four years and the majority of those users don’t pay anything for that service,” special waste manager Randy Nederlo said. “

It’s free to residents because local governments pay fees to reimburse the county.

“When we went from 6,000 users six years ago up to 9,000-10,000 users like we have now, it has increased our cost,” Nederlo said. “We’ve had to add staff and we have the additional waste that needs to be disposed of.”

Nederlo hopes the county board will approve a funding increase from the municipalities that support the hazardous waste facility. He doesn’t think the average customer would want to pay more than $5-$10 to haul items to the waste collection site. 

The county board will consider a plan next week to increase the fee paid by municipalities by $.25 per person, starting next year.

Nederlo believes all 18 communities have to sign on, in order for the fee change to be made.