Annual recycling event planned at fairgrounds

Kalispell wants people to help turn garbage into trees on Saturday with its Trees to Paper to Trees recycling drive.

The semi-annual event is organized by the volunteer members of the Kalispell Street Tree Commission. Drives are hosted every spring and fall.

People are asked to bring sorted and separated recyclable materials to the north end of the Flathead County Fairgrounds from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 13. 

Accepted items will include newspapers, magazines, office paper, cardboard, phone books and aluminum cans.

The Trees to Paper to Trees program was started in 1996 as a way to keep newsprint out of the county landfill and recycle the material to raise money to buy and plant more trees in Kalispell. 

Area students and many other volunteers staff the collection site, helping to unload vehicles that pull up and put recyclable materials into bins provided and hauled off by Pacific Steel and Recycling.

Going into this spring recycling drive, the Trees to Paper to Trees program has collected 772,377 pounds of recyclable materials and raised almost $12,000 to plant more trees in the city.