By Star Jameson, Hamilton
While attending a fundraiser for Ravalli County Recycling, I was astonished at how few younger people attended. Is there an assumption that recycling is a given here in Ravalli County, and will continue here
predictably, like garbage disposal or mail delivery? This is not the case! RCR is a nonprofit heavily dependent on volunteers. Income has decreased dramatically in the past eight years of its life. Aluminum can recycling dropped from $.55-$.35/pound. Newspaper and cardboard recycling, once a backbone of the budget is at an all-time low. Nonetheless they recycled 6.7 million pounds of our waste in the past eight years.
RCR added curbside recycling, a luxury in a rural county, in 2012. While it generates income, the cost of gasoline, drivers, maintenance and insurance eats that right up.
Without recycling, we’d see more pickup truck beds overflowing with garbage beside homes and our garbage cans would overflow. The costs at the Transfer Station would likely increase. Retailers would have to recycle cardboard, which is 45% of the materials RCR recycles. Our sanitation levels would be at risk.
Finally, and most critical, RCR needs a new home. In a hurry! It needs to be large, easily accessible to them public, at a very reasonable price, with a building to house the crusher and truck. Obviously, purchasing a
permanent site would be ideal.
RCR needs your input, the vision of millennials, and the support of the whole county. Make your ideas known! Be a benefactor! Remember, donations are tax deductible.