SANDPOINT — The Bonner County Solid Waste Department will soon be determining the cost of replacement solid waste cards after officials decide the manual labor cost for reprogramming and mailing out the passes.  

Solid Waste officials made the announcement during their monthly meeting with Bonner County commissioners, sharing that the department was preparing to program approximately 50,000 cards to be mailed to county residents to utilize the county's dump services.  

The cards will replace the current solid waste sticker program and will be scanned during each dump visit. According to Solid Waste Director Bob Howard, cards can be used year over year and should not be thrown away. The department has the ability to reprogram the cards.  

As part of the card rollout, the site office at the Idaho Hill dump site will be relocated to the middle of the site entrance for accessibility for site attendees to scan the cards. The change is also expected to help with traffic flow and safety.   

Possible safety measures were also discussed to require residents to stop at the site office before dumping their waste, as opposed to pulling through without checking in. A decision was not made on the matter, though.  

Commissioners are moving from windshield stickers to cards as part of the 2027 voucher rollout, aiming to improve data and address pass-sharing concerns. Officials noted residents must physically present the card; photos or screenshots will not work. 

The cards integrate with the department’s new point-of-sale system.