Menu
Recycling Center struggles to provide service
Nevada Daily Mail
For years, residents of Vernon County have been mindful of their environment as they participated in the recycling program made available by the county. But that program now fights to continue as county leaders try to keep it viable.
After starting with just a trailer, the recycling center has grown as grant money provided the funds for buildings and equipment until it now processes recycled goods from Nevada and even other neighboring communities.
"We've certainly picked up a lot," director David Irwin said. "This place is growing all the time."
Starting out with just picking up one trailer load of recyclables, Irwin said they now regularly pick up more than three trailers full a day. Each week they make 40 separate stops around the city to pick up businesses recycled cardboard -- which brings the greatest price at $95 a ton. In comparison, paper brings about $5 a ton.
With the few workers they have, Irwin said sometimes those and other pickups at dumpsters mean the employee, who often does the pickup alone, has to reach into or even climb into the dumpster, throw it out and then finally put it in the trailer, only to have to unload and process it at the center.
"We are just at our max as far as being able to do that," Irwin said of their routes through the city with the labor they have.
Residents can also drop off goods at the center, which is open Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. -- 5 p.m, Wednesdays noon to 6 p.m., and the first Saturday of the month 9 a.m. to noon. Having the items dropped off saves the center time, fuel and labor, and Irwin said he encourages residents and businesses to drop it off if possible.
Monthly, employees pick up recycled items from Deerfield and Stonegate. About twice a month, trailers with recycled goods gathered in El Dorado Springs are dropped off at the Recycling Center to be unloaded by county employees.
But often, that load arrives with the recycled items -- including glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, aluminum and tin -- mixed together, instead of properly separated. Those employees then have to spend about an extra four hours or longer separating the items from each other while also removing trash residents threw into the bin, thinking of it as a place to dispose their garbage.
"I don't have the help to do it," Irwin said, saying it would be better if someone stayed with the trailer to help unload and process the goods, which they did initially.
Already facing very little revenue from the program -- with income from the sale of recyclable goods dropping from more than $16,000 in 2013 to about $10,500 in 2014, with expenditures surpassing the revenue -- northern commissioner Neal Gerster said the county cannot afford to complete that extra labor with the few employees available.
In past years, the local jail provided labor through a program that allowed inmates to help unload those trailers brought to the recycling center, earning a day off their sentence in return. But because of the inmates' abuse of the program, it ended.
"We always encourage groups to come down and get with us," Irwin said, saying 4-H programs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and churches have helped out at the center for service projects. "We certainly welcome all volunteers and we like having them come down ... it does them good, but it does us good, too."
Southern commissioner Everett Wolfe said he had initially been wary of the recycling program when he first heard of it, but soon recognized its value when he saw less trash left on the sides of the road as people recycled it instead.
"Our job with the county is to take as much out of the waste stream as possible," Irwin said.
But with the recycling center struggling to find workers, the county may be forced to limit those services.
"It's a good thing," Irwin said of recycling. "But it's not a good thing if we don't have the help. I like recycling. I like seeing people do it, but it's so labor intensive that people just don't understand that."