Thrift shop to collect items at Columbia Falls green-box location

A pilot program to reduce the volume of waste at the Flathead County landfill began this week.

Flathead Industries has teamed up with the Flathead County Solid Waste District Board to have on-site collection for the Flathead Industries thrift shop at the Columbia Falls garbage container site.

Personnel from Flathead Industries pitched the collection concept to the solid waste board and the two entities reached an agreement on the plan, county Public Works Director Dave Prunty said.

Flathead Industries will park a panel truck, painted with its logo and name, just inside the fence at the Columbia Falls site, according to Flathead Industries Director of Business and Operations Mike Allen.

The truck will be there from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Initial plans call for having the truck there through fall, Prunty and Allen said.

The pilot program will be evaluated after that. Other thrift shops in the county have been offered the opportunity to have similar collection efforts, Prunty said, but so far no other efforts have been finalized.

Allen said it took “only a matter of minutes” for the Flathead Industries board and staff to think about the opportunity and realize it was a good idea. In his letter to the solid waste board, Allen wrote that he could “envision the program growing quite large.”

Two or three people from Flathead Industries will be stationed at the truck to collect donations for the thrift shops the agency runs in Columbia Falls and Whitefish.

Flathead Industries also has a thrift shop in Kalispell.

Proceeds from the stores help fund service programs for people with disabilities.

Flathead Industries will accept essentially any item that’s in working order, Allen said. Items in need of major repairs aren’t accepted because Flathead Industries doesn’t have the staff to fix things before selling them, he said.

Flathead Industries will not accept older-model TVs, computer monitors, mattresses, tires, auto parts, guns and built-in appliances.

Receipts for tax purposes will be given out at the collection site.

The solid waste district board’s goal “is to reduce what’s running to the landfill,” Prunty said, and that’s why board members like the Flathead Industries plan.

Having the on-site thrift shop collection allows people to make one stop with items they don’t want, the two men said. People can haul their trash to the garbage site along with items they want to donate to an organization, instead of having to make a separate stop at a donation site, Prunty said.

“This is an avenue to get usable products into these stores in a safe manner,” Prunty said.

Prunty said any organization interested in setting up a collection option should meet with the solid waste district board.

That board meets at 5 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month at the landfill office, off U.S. 93 North.

The solid waste board members are appointed by the communities that fund the landfill operation — the county and the three incorporated cities in Flathead County.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.