What form of ownership and operation would you like for the Lopez “dump” (i.e. our drop-box facility). Would you like it to continue to be county-owned and operated? If your answer to that question is, “No,” then you probably have a lot in common with your fellow Lopezians.

Recently, the Lopez-based community group, Take Back the Dump (TBTD), conducted a survey, both online and in person, to find out what Lopezians want from their dump. Admittedly, the survey was not scientific, but TBTD wanted some measure of community thoughts. Here are some of the top responses.

93.7% of respondents did not want the dump to continue under full county control as is

53.2% want the dump to be county-owned but locally controlled

40.5% want it to be community-owned and operated

94.6% of respondents said that information exchange and broad community involvement is important in the operation of the dump.

93.3% want the “take it or leave it” to continue

85.7% want to return to “source separated recyclables”

82.4% want recycling for appliances, scrap metal, and e-waste

81.5% want ongoing hazardous waste drop off

By any measure, it is clear that Lopezians love their dump, and if anything, they want services to be expanded. That does not necessarily mean that Lopezians will give a blank check to whoever operates the dump, however.

Only 47.4% of respondents said they would vote for a tax or bond levy to subsidize dump costs. Interestingly, 71.1% said they favored a progressive rate structure, where it would cost more to dispose of more garbage.

Why are other communities able to offer services such as scrap metal recycling, composting, e-waste drop-off, or an expanded take-it-or-leave it? How are they able to offer these services at affordable prices? In an effort to get at those answers, TBTD is in the planning stages of a speaker series, starting late summer, that will focus on hearing from comparable communities. TBTD feels that Lopezians should have an opportunity to hear from the folks who have made it happen in their own home towns.

TBTD then hopes to get community support for a mini-initiative about the management and operation of, not only the Lopez dump, but the entire County solid waste system. It will be offered to the County Council for action. If the Council fails to pass the mini-initiative, then TBTD hopes to qualify a full initiative for the ballot in 2011.

For more information on TBTD (including full survey results), please see their blog at www.takebackthedump.blogspot.com or email them at takebackthedump@gmail.com.