By Michael Howell
Ravalli County Recycling (RCR) board members and volunteers showed up on Earth Day to clean up the yard at the non-profit recycling center located on Highway 93 just north of Hamilton.
“Times are hard for recyclers,” said RCR President Pam Small. She said that a severely depressed market for recyclables has recently led RCR to make some significant changes its operation. One of the biggest changes is that RCR is no longer accepting plastic. The cost of transporting the plastics to the closest out-of-state recycling facility makes recycling plastic a losing operation.
“When we started, our idea was to recycle everything,” said Small. “But it has become clear that we need to recognize some priorities.”
Small said that accepting plastics was complicated for the public. Only certain types of plastic, identified by a number, can be recycled. Not only were they losing money on the plastics due primarily to the cost of transportation to far off recycling facilities, but it also took a lot of volunteer hours to sort through the plastics that were being dropped off. Small also noted that while plastics represent a major threat to aquatic and ocean life, it is a relatively inert material when buried in a landfill.
Another thing that RCR has stopped accepting is ferrous metals. People wishing to dispose of scrap metal are being referred to Modern Recycling, a for-profit recycling enterprise located just up the road on Highway 93 near Sheafman Creek Road. It is part of RCR’s mission to work in cooperation with, and help support, other private and public recycling participants. They encourage people to take packaging materials to the UPS Store or the Boxxe Shoppe. Plastic grocery bags may be taken to the recycling bins at Safeway and Albertsons. Compact and long fluorescent tubes can be disposed of for a fee at Palmer Electric, located at 2407 Havre Street in Missoula.
Following these adjustments to the operation, RCR has achieved some financial stability and sustainability, according to Small. It still accepts steel (tin) and aluminum cans and paper products such as newspapers, office paper, phone books and magazines. It accepts electronics such as cell phones and chargers, hard drives and circuit boards. It also accepts rechargeable batteries, car batteries, toner and ink cartridges, and long-necked 12 oz. beer bottles.
If you can’t make it to the recycling center you can take advantage of RCR’s curbside pick up for paper and commercial cardboard. Cardboard is no longer accepted at the Stevensville 24-hour, seven-day-a-week drop off in Stevensville, located in the parking lot of Burnt Fork Market.
Other items not accepted at RCR include glass, bubble wrap and styrofoam, alkaline batteries and hazardous materials including petroleum and oil bottles.
At the end of the special Earth Day event, a truck loaded with 10 tons of recyclables headed out from the recycling center to be processed for reuse in various productts. That’s 10 tons of garbage that will not go into the landfill.