County officials confer on recycling situation

The Flathead County commissioners and the landfill board will meet today to talk about whether or not the county will continue to subsidize its blue bin recycling program.

The workshop begins at 3 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell. Public comment will be taken at the beginning of the meeting.

The county must decide soon whether or not to continue subsidizing the recycling program at a loss of about $50,000 a year for pared-down service, or eliminate the program.

The county’s contract with Valley Recycling ended in January for the blue recycling bins at green-box collection sites and other locations at businesses and schools. 

Since then the county has been on a month-to-month basis for recycling services, but Valley Recycling is waiting for an answer on a longer-term contract.

The problem is the new recycling contract will cost the county nearly three times as much, and there’s no one other than Valley Recycling who wants the job, according to county Public Works Director Dave Prunty.

When the county advertised for proposals from local recycling companies, Valley Recycling was the only company interested, and its proposed rates are substantially higher. 

It will cost around $188,000 a year if the county keeps its current level of service.

Recycling saves valuable space in the county landfill, Prunty has acknowledged, but since 1998 the county has lost roughly $403,400 on recycling.

Some landfill board members suggested increasing the solid waste tax assessed each property owner by up to $2 a year to cover recycling losses.

A number of people attended the board meeting to state their support of the blue-box program; many said they wouldn’t mind the extra $2 annually to help pay for it.