Once that is accomplished, Marty Haverty plans to get the county recycling program up and running.
The county will recycle office paper, newspaper, magazines, cardboard, aluminum cans, specific plastics and metal cans. That is in addition to appliances, metals, construction debris, paint, electronics, landscaping debris, tires and batteries that are collected at the Cochise County Western Regional Landfill in Whetstone.
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The recycling program will start at the rural transfer stations to allow the county to “slowly grow into the new system,” Haverty said. County staff then can identify and address shortcomings before moving onto the urban transfer stations in Sierra Vista, Benson, Willcox, Bisbee and Douglas.
Materials will be hauled to Tucson, where two vendors have shown interest in purchasing the county’s recyclables until the new facility is operational.
Each of the county transfer stations will have a bin to handle recyclable materials. The items to be recycled will be placed in a common bin, compacted, baled and then trucked to a Tucson recycling facility.
“We just received delivery of our first roll-off boxes with flipper doors for implementation at the rural transfer stations. We have to make some minor modifications to those boxes to work with our equipment and with a quick paint job, we will be ready to start the roll-off program at the rural sites. I am looking to roll those out in mid-December. We were able to purchase used containers from Sedona Recycles, saving about $60,000 over the price of new,” Haverty said.
Two used balers for the Willcox and Benson transfer stations also have been purchased. Haverty plans to install them around mid-December. Cardboard will be pulled from the waste stream at the sites and baled to be sold.
A large baler and conveyor system for the Sierra Vista transfer station also is being put out for bid. The county is currently preparing for delivery, and the equipment installation expected to occur in late December.
The county may run into competition, though, from a new recycling facility owned by Waste Management Inc. The county Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved a special-use permit for the facility. Waste Management plans to offer recycling for the same materials as the county, but will include glass.
That got county recycling advisory committee member Mike Rohrbach a bit hot under the collar.
“(The committee) agreed to activate the rural transfer stations in this effort and work with the municipalities on improving their waste stream collection to produce recyclables for sale at the Huachuca City materials recycling facility,” Rohrbach wrote in an e-mail to the Herald/Review. “The economics of reopening (it) is based on ‘collaborative’ collection of all of the waste in the county. Breaking that stream up so that Waste Management get the profitable pieces of the Fort and Sierra Vista means that there will not be enough to justify keeping (it) open.”
He continued, “It is clear that Waste Management will be charging us tipping fees for what they recycle. They do not have a place for glass, despite what they are telling everyone. They will charge us a tipping fee for glass and then will get another landfill to take it at a lower price.”
Haverty is considering the Waste Management facility as an option, though not high on the list.
“They will charge a tipping fee to recycle similar to their Tucson operation. … They currently charge city of Tucson $15 per ton to recycle their material. I am projecting if we went with this option we would be charged at least $20 per ton for them to haul the material to their Tucson recycling facility,” Haverty said.
That would be money the county does not want to spend.
Supervisor Pat Call has been talking with Sierra Vista’s mayor and public works director. He pointed out that Sierra Vista is “looking forward” to the county recycling facility coming online.
The participation of Bisbee and Douglas has not been determined, since both cities have successful recycling programs in some commodities.
If the county does get the loose ends tied up, there may still be a problem finding buyers for recycled materials.
“Just as a general note, the recycling markets have dropped significantly and have put several smaller potential buyers out of business recently,” Haverty said. “This does not deter plans to move forward. We are not only looking for revenue that recyclables may bring, but also to save valuable space in the landfill to defer the construction and significant investment in the next cell farther into the future.”
The volunteer nine-person advisory committee may be meeting for the last time in January or February, unless the Board of Supervisors comes up with another task for the members. There has been talk of a public education blitz to get the word out about recycling, but it is not known if the committee will be necessary to accomplish that.
“This is a decision to be made by the entire Board of Supervisors. The committee has done a great job and has more than fulfilled the task set for them,” Call added.
Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
