County looks at privatizing recycling program
Facing a cost increase of up to 30 percent for a recycling program that’s losing money, the Flathead County Solid Waste District Board has decided to try privatizing the program.
The county for years has contracted with Valley Recycling to have blue recycling bins at the green-box collection sites and other locations throughout the county. Recycling saves valuable space in the county landfill, but since 1998 the county has lost $361,091 on recycling, Public Works Director Dave Prunty said.
A regional manager for Valley Recycling recently told Prunty to expect the next contract bid for the program to be 20 to 30 percent higher.
The year 2000 was the only profitable year for the county, when commodity prices for aluminum and newspaper were high enough to turn a profit of just over $1,000 for the year. Last year the program lost $41,515. The biggest annual loss was in 2010 when the county lost $97,508 on recycling.
“Typically it’s been a financial loser,” Prunty said. “Of course the benefit is not putting it into the landfill. It’s time to say, ‘Let’s step back and see what the private side can do.’ Hopefully we can recraft this.”
The county’s contract with Valley Recycling ends in January. The Solid Waste Board directed Prunty to negotiate a month-to-month contract with Valley Recycling while the county advertises for proposals from recycling companies.
“Let’s have them tell us how they would run a recycling program,” he said.
Recycling businesses are not regulated by the state Public Service Commission, so “anyone can recycle,” Prunty noted.
Prunty said government recycling programs have been dropped in some areas, prompted by a downturn in the economy.
Solid Waste Board Chairman Hank Olson acknowledged the difficulty with recycling in rural areas like the Flathead.
“We know [commodity] prices are up, but shipping is our biggest enemy.”
In September 2008 the Solid Waste District took on responsibility for recycling bins previously operated by the city of Kalispell. For years Evergreen Disposal had provided recycling bins at sites in Kalispell and Evergreen, but over time it also was a money-losing proposition.
When Evergreen Disposal decided to discontinue the service, the Solid Waste District stepped in, Prunty said.
At the time, Kalispell spent about $30,000 to buy some of the bins and the county district rents the others. The Solid Waste District assumed responsibility for maintaining all of the bins, located at Glacier High School, Flathead High School, Kalispell Middle School, downtown Super 1 Foods, Albertsons and Army-Navy.
The Albertsons and Super 1 Foods recycling sites are the busiest. Of the 102.79 tons of recyclables collected during October, 17 percent of the tonnage came from Albertsons while 14 percent came from Super 1 Foods.
The Ashley Lake green-box site west of Kalispell had the least amount of recyclables collected.
Aluminum cans, cardboard, newspaper, plastic and tin are collected at all sites. Commodity prices during October were 60 cents a pound for aluminum, 3.9 cents a pound for cardboard, 2.9 cents a pound for plastic and .07 cents a pound for tin.
While the county has worked with the schools and stores to provide the blue bins, it’s possible some of those sites could be closed, depending on the kind of proposals that come in from private companies, Prunty said. The only sites the county could “lock in” would be the green-box sites operated by the county.
“We still want to be involved,” Prunty said. “We’d want reports” from a private recycler. “We want to see what’s going on out there.”
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.