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County to Move Forward with One-Year Contract for Recycling

By Beacon Staff

The Flathead County Solid Waste District Board voted to approve a 13-month contract extension with Valley Recycling to keep the county’s recycling program afloat.

The vote came on Nov. 26, and the board’s monthly meeting, and was a unanimous decision. Instead of the valley’s 15 recycling locations, the board agreed to move forward with eight, at the existing blue bin sites in Ashley Lake, Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Coram, Creston, Lakeside, Somers and the landfill.

The county’s previous contract with Valley Recycling ended in January, when the company informed the board that its prices would go up dramatically, dealing a financial blow to a program that has only garnered a profit once in its existence. But when the county put the recycling program out for bid, only Valley Recycling responded, and the county has worked with the company on a month-to-month basis since.

Now, the contract extension will give the county a year to figure out what to do about long-term recycling in the Flathead, which has become an expensive process.

Since 1998, when the program started, the county has lost more than $400,000 on recycling. In 2000, the only profitable year for recycling, the program made $1,028.

At the Nov. 26 meeting, County Public Works Director David Prunty told the board that the county expects to lose about $209,000 on recycling this year, with revenue settling at about $67,400 and a net loss of just over $141,500.

“This will be by far our most expensive year of the blue bin recycling program,” Prunty said.

And the county’s most popular recycling bins – those located at Super One and Albertson’s grocery stores – will not be part of the county’s program anymore. That’s a major loss, the board members said; the grocery store bins and the bin at Army-Navy make up 41 percent of the total recycled materials, but cost $3,300 this October alone.

A representative from Valley Recycling informed the board that the company is glad to be moving forward with a defined contract, and that the company hopes to keep those grocery store locations open on their own.

In the next year, the board said it will look at different recycling proposals to help keep the cost down. Prunty noted that the future of the program will likely look like it currently does at the Columbia Falls location, which has a garbage compactor and a county employee on staff.

With those on site, the price per ton of recycling has dropped to $50.89. The second-lowest site price per ton, in Lakeside, is $161.88. Somers boasts the highest price per ton, at $295.09.

The board noted that Flathead County’s main financial roadblock with recycling is location, and shipping the recycled materials out of the valley.

The public present at the meeting expressed support for the county recycling program, saying it is an important issue for the environment and the county needs more education and outreach on recycling issues.

Mayre Flowers, executive director at Citizens for a Better Flathead, told the board she supported the decision to decrease recycling sites to eight, because the county faces a tough financial situation but also wants to keep the program running.

“We would like to see (the contract extension) truly coupled with an independent study, because in one year we’re going to be in the same place,” Flowers said.

The board also discussed the potential closure of the Bigfork green box site, which has caused considerable tension with some Bigfork residents. Since the board intends on revision the county’s solid waste strategic report, the board said, it is likely any further decisions about the Bigfork site will be tabled until the new strategic plan is in place.

This plan revision will include outside consultants, and will likely have heavy public involvement, Prunty said, including a potential survey and a scoping session early next year.

The board also voted to cancel its monthly meeting in December, so the next meeting will be in January.