Residents of Stevensville, come on over to the newly opened recycling drop-off next to the Burnt Fork Market!
Already, aluminum cans and #1 plastic bottles are coming in fast. So is corrugated cardboard.
Remember to remove bottle caps and lids; they are trash, not recyclable. And flatten everything that you can, but especially cardboard, milk bottles and cans.
Corrugated cardboard is welcome from residential customers (please, no paste board, such as cereal and soap boxes). Because of the sheer volume of cardboard coming in, commercial customers should call (406) 375-5398 for information about curbside cardboard pick-up.
Newspapers, including inserts, are welcome. But please, put newspapers only through windows marked for the newspaper tubs. (A lot of wrong stuff goes into those! Wrong stuff equals penalty fees from bulk buyers of recyclables from the nonprofit Ravalli County Recycling, Inc.)
Do bring in crushed translucent-plastic #2 milk bottles and colorful #2 (detergent) bottles. They’re the most valuable plastic!
Please, no paper sacks or plastic bags. Volunteers must open every one, throw away the plastic bags and toss the brown grocery bags into the cardboard bin.
Get in the groove with helpful recycling habits.
Also, drive by just to read the signs below each access window; then you’ll know what can be recycled at the Ravalli County Recycling RDOF (recycling drop off facility). Even newer signs with pictures of each acceptable item will soon be posted, to make recycling even simpler.
By the way, the access windows on the west side of the recycling container fill up slower. Also on the west is a large sign with important information. For instance, last year RCR saved more than one million pounds from having to get buried in the landfill! Check out RCR’s “income and expenses” pie charts. Check into how to volunteer!
On the north door are handouts to take home, listing what does and what does not go inside the RDOF.
Some people may be tempted to put anything not listed through the slots, into the carts or the sacks. Have a heart! Imagine being a volunteer inside the container, with two long rows of carts and sacks and a narrow walkway between. It gets kind of hot and smelly. As the carts and bags fill, volunteers have to glove up and dig in, picking out stuff that is not recyclable, then hold the stuff overhead while walking along the narrow aisle and out to garbage cans. The unwanted stuff has to be commercially disposed of at the landfill.
Got the picture? No glass, pesticide containers, Styrofoam, feed bags, oily or dirty containers, bubble wrap, cellophane, pasteboard boxes, plastic bags or other garbage. And no plastic containers except for #1s and #2s, each stamped with the recycle triangle and number in the center.
Full carts and bags are trucked to the RCR processing center in Hamilton and have to be double checked (again, wrong stuff equals penalty fees from bulk buyers).
What a pleasure to see happy new recyclers in Stevensville! Let’s try to do this right.
Bob Williams, RCR Volunteer
Stevensville