Misconceptions abound about new recycling center - Gate House
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By Joshua Dixon
Staff Writer
February 19. 2015 12:01AM
Misconceptions abound about new recycling center
There are a lot of wrong ideas out there about the upcoming new Redwood / Renville County recycling center, and with almost a year to go, rumors are already affecting
how residents send in their recycling, and hurting how the center’s staff can process it.
There are a lot of wrong ideas out there about the upcoming new Redwood / Renville County recycling center.
The new $5 million, 39,000 square foot center will process recycling for both counties starting in approximately Jan.
2016.
However, with almost a year to go, false rumors are already affecting how residents send in their recycling, and hurting
how the center’s staff can process it.
Brian Sams, Redwood County Environmental Office Recycling Coordinator, explained the facts behind some common
misconceptions.
It’s not necessary to sort your recycling any more. You can mix plastics, cardboard, aluminum, etc. in the same bag.
That will be true eventually, but it’s not true yet, and won’t be until the new facility opens next year.
The
steel
work
for
the
new
Redwood/Renville
County
recycling
center should start going up any day. The
center is currently expected to open in
approximately Jan. 2016.
“Until further notice, all recycling is handled the same way it was before,” said Sams. “You still have to sort it out before
you send it to us.”
The new facility will be a “single-stream” site, where all sorting is done after it is received at the recycling center.
However, the current center isn’t set up for that. Any bags or boxes you send in of mixed recyclables still have to be sorted by hand by recycling center staff.
Why will the new facility be “single-stream”?
“The main reason is so you the consumer won’t have to sort your recycling,” said Sams. “What we’re after is that folks who are on the fence about recycling will
start if it’s easier for them.
“You’ll be provided with a 95 gallon cart for your recycling pickup, and you can just toss everything in it together. There won’t be any excuse not to recycle
anymore.
“We’re hoping that with the simpler system, peoples’ garbage loads will get smaller, and their recycling loads will get bigger.”
You can toss all your garbage and your recycling into the same bag. The recycling center staff will separate it for you.
Not true now, and never will be.
This misconception started because the new center will have a second function as a transfer site for county trash collectors.
“Right now, all the garbage trucks in Redwood Falls take their loads to the county landfill in Lynd, in Lyon County,” said Sams.
It will be much faster and cost effective for local garbage trucks to dump their loads at a central site to be trucked away.
As a result, the new facility has an entirely separate enclosed area for temporarily storing garbage.
“With the new facility, people will still have to sort their garbage from their recycling; they will be treated as two separate streams here,” said Sams.
“Some people don’t understand that, and we’ve already been getting bags of recycling mixed with old coffee grounds, fish guts, diapers.... We’re not set up to
sort through all that.”
The county is trying to end its long-term relationship with Service Enterprises, Inc.
“No. We’ve been working with those folks since 1990, and have a very good working relationship,” said Sams of the local firm which provides employment for
people with mental or physical disabilities.
However, “the new facility will have more sophisticated equipment, and some of their current employees may not be able to make the transition.”
Sams clarified a few additional items about the new facility:
• Towns in Redwood County will still continue to get bi-weekly curbside recycling pickup service.
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Misconceptions abound about new recycling center - Gate House
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• The new facility will be set up for secure document destruction.
Currently, businesses and organizations in Redwood Falls that are required to shred confidential documents have to call in contractors who do it in specialized
trucks and carry the waste away.
“We’ll be able to provide that service here in town, and then we can recycle the paper,” said Sams.
• The new facility will be set up for aluminum can redemption — that is, you can sell your used cans there.
• The facility is being paid for and operated by both Redwood and Renville Counties, which should make contracting with trash collection agencies for both
counties more efficient and cost effective.
Sams said there are still a lot of unknowns about the new recycling facility, things that won’t be worked out until the system is up and running.
“There will be a steep learning curve with this new facility for all of us. That first year, or two years, we’re going to be learning a lot. Right now we’re having to
guess.
“But the thing people need to understand for now is that for the time being, nothing has changed.
“This new facility won’t be the Taj Mahal by any means. We don’t have marble sinks here. It’s a plain Jane facility to take us through the next 25 or 30 years, an
industrial building to do the job.
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