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HomeMy Public PortalAboutMcCall, Idaho: Public Works - RecyclingThe Star-News 6/28/2007 Recycling group looks to offer more services City, county funds sought to build new collection facility in McCall BY TECLA MARKOSKY The Star-News To most people, the former gravel pit along Deinhard Lane in McCall looks like a wasteland, but for Esther Mulnick and Mary Hart, it's a plot teeming with opportunity. Mulnick and Hart are members of Recycling Partners, a group that is working to broaden the capacity of recycling in McCall. The group's efforts received a kick -start last month when it received $44,000 in McCall local option tax funds. They hope to use the money to build a new recycling facility that will accept more items than the current center on Jacob Street, which is owned by Valley County and operated by Lakeshore Disposal. The current collection station accepts cardboard, tin, aluminum and newspapers. The proposed fa- cility also would be able to accept most plastics, magazines, office paper, junk mail and glass. Recycling Partners is composed of individuals, businesses and Mc- Call and Valley County officials. The proposed facility is modeled on the privately operated Heartland Recyclers in New Meadows and would serve all citizens of Valley County and its visitors. "It's way overdue," Mulnick said. "Through it, we'll contribute to the environment by recycling and reusing. The site chosen by Recycling Partners is 10 acres of county - owned land next to the Valley County Courthouse Annex, which is also the site of a proposed affordable housing project by the Valley Adams Regional Housing Authority. See RECYCLE, Page A -11 Recycle (Continued from Page A -1) Recycling Partners will ask Valley County commissioners to budget $44,000 next year in matching funds to complete con - struction of the facility, which would be targeted to open next summer. As now planned, the new center would consist of a large drive - through building that would allow two or three cars to park briefly inside while unloading. Currently, there is no curbside pickup service planned. .................................................. ty would take over operation of the center and be responsible for hauling the recyclable materials to processors in Boise. The cur- rent center on Jacob Street would be shut down. Glass would not be taken from the area, but given to the county and thenlocal asphalt companies, which will crush the glass and mix it 15 percent with rock to make asphalt. "There is so much support from the community on this," Mulnick said. "Businesses and individuals are so thrilled to help move this through. This is just the beginning." Star-News Photo by Tecla Markosky Esther Mulnick of McCall examines two drink bottles at the recycling center in McCall. The planned expanded McCall recycling collection center will be able to process plastics such as drink bottles. The Star-News 10/4/2007 Valley Co., Lake Shore to meet over recycling complaints Citizens group suspects recycled materials are going to landfills; contractor says there have been problems but pledges to solve them BY MICHAEL WELLS The Sw -News Valley County commissioners will meet with Lake Shore Disposal's local manager on Tuesday to discuss accusations that materials intended to be recycled were going to landfills. Commissioners will ask Lake Shore site manager Adam Johnson Tuesday to discuss the allegations made by Recycle Partners, a citizens group working to expand recycling facilities in Valley County. Recycle Partner members Mary Hart, Ester Mulnick and Susan Bechdel delivered a letter to commissioners last month that included photos that showed large amounts of recyclable card- board and newspaper being loaded into trash trucks. "We believe, based on the attached photos, the present program does not recycle some of the cardboard and newspaper which appears to be contaminated and going to the landfill," the letter said. "Sadly, Recycle Partners feel we have been misled along with all Valley County recyclers and taxpayers, regarding the existing recycling program in Valley County," the letter said. Johnson admits there have been problems this year, but that no cardboard or newspaperhas been sent to landfills. .He.se d -he is committed to red yeling-in' the community and his business has experienced mechanical problems with 'the baling equip- ment at the county's new East Lake Fork Road transfer site. See RECYCLING, Page A-11 Recycling (Continued from Page A -1) Catching Up With Backlog Recently, the baler has been operating and catching up on about a year's worth of recyclable materials. The materials are currently shipped to Pacific Steel in Boise, which pays the county four cents per pound of cardboard and about a penny for a pound of newspaper. "We want the guarantee that re- cyclables are being recycled," Hart said at a commissioners' meeting last week. Currently, Lake Shore Disposal recycles cardboard, newspaper, aluminum, tin and bulk metals for the county. The revenue from the recycled materials is paid to the county. The Recycle Partners letter also questioned the mess at the McCall recycling facility at the end of Jacob Street. Johnson's staff of 30 handles trash in Valley, Adams and parts of Washington counties. The staff does not work on the weekends when the bulk of recycling materi- als show up at the McCall facility. The site is cleared of all recycled materials every Monday and Fri- day, Johnson said. The only times Monday pickups do not occur are on holiday week- ends, he said. Several of the photos from Re- cycle Partners were taken on the Wednesday after the Labor Day weekend. Johnson said his staff was run- ning one extra day behind that week and later picked up the materials at the McCall facility that is also owned by the county. "A lot of the overflow in McCall comes from vendors who don't break down their boxes so other people can't put their stuff in," Johnson said. "So people set their stuff in front." Public's Help Needed He would like residents who use the facility to break down cardboard boxes so that there is room for others who come to the facility on weekends to deposit their recyclable materials. The facility does not accept trash, but some residents have also dumped trash at the facility. On Monday, Johnson will meet with commissioner Frank Eld to discuss the county's recycling program. On Tuesday, the meeting with the commissioners should clear the air, he said. Due to contract negotiations withthe county, Johnson wouldnot discuss if or when Lake Shore Dis- posal would have plastic and glass s4,. /°)IJO -1 bins available to allow residents to recycle those materials. Recycling is the future," John- son said. "I love this community and plan on being a part of it for a long time." During last week's meeting, commissioners expressed their displeasure with the situation presented to them by Recycle Partners. "I am sorely disappointed in what we are seeing," Eld said. Commissioner Jerry Winkle suggested the commission should discuss possible proposals for anew recycling contract. "I am fully disappointed in what is happening up there," Winkle said. "That shouldn't happen in Valley County." Commissioner Gordon Cruick- shank had suDnorted Lake Shore. The Star-News 10/11/2007 Lake Shore promises recycling expansion More bins on order will broaden types of items accepted by year -end BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The manager of Lake Shore Disposal promised Valley County officials on Tuesday his company would step up efforts to expand recycling. Lake Shore Disposal site manager Adam Johnson.asked Valley County commissioners permission to purchase four additional recycling bins. The bins will be used to collect plastic, glass and office paper and should be in operation before the end of the year. Johnson noted the problems his company has had using a county -owned baler that had been broken for about a year before recently coming back into service. He promised the commissioners the backlog of recyclable materials is being processed. Recycle Partners, a citizens' group in McCall, wentbefore commissioners last month to complain Lake Shore Disposal was not recycling materials, but instead dumping the materials in a landfill. Johnson said no recyclable materials were be- ing dumped in a landfill. "I've heard these promises before," commis- sioner Jerry Winkle said. "I do not think you are meeting your contract." Johnson also said that his employees have been separating trash out of the recycle bins, which is not within the scope of the contract with the county. "Just so we understand, non - polluted, non- mixed bins will be recycled," he said. "When bins are mixed and, or polluted we will not sort them." Sorting out Trash Commissioner Frank Eld agreed Lake Shore employees should not be sorting trash out of re- cycle bins. He emphasized that the public needs to only place the recyclable materials in the proper bins and not throw in other trash. See RECYLCING, Page A -12 ♦ Site still being sought for McCall recycling center - PageA -12 Recycling (Continued from Page A -1) Eld wanted the company to track the volume of each of the recyclable materials. Johnson agreed the company would provide volume reports on each recyclable material. w Currently, cardboard, news- paper, tin and aluminum cans are recycled in Valley County. By the end of the year, the county will also provide residents the option to recycle plastic, office paper and glass. All the materials, with the exception of glass, will be taken to a recycling center in the Boise area. The glass will be taken by the county and will be used by the county road department in its asphalt mix. Commissioner Gordon Cruick- shank asked Recycle Partners if they would be willing to help Lake Shore with the recycling program. "We will not help Lake Shore," Esther Mulnick of Recycle Part- ners said. Mary Hart of Recycle Partners wanted Lake Shore to be placed on aprobationary term so that the program is accountable. "We want to make sure Lake Shore is recycling," Hart said. "They will all be recycled," Johnsonsaid. "Wehaven'tthrown the stuff away." Lake Shore has no incentive to dump recyclables in a landfill, said Don Allen of Waste Connec- tions, the Twin Falls company that owns Lake Shore Disposal. Hauling recyclables to a recy- cling centerpays for the program, Allen said. If the company dumpedthematerials in alandfill, it would not make money from the recyclable materials, he said. Johnson said he has provided Eld with rece ipts for the materials the company has recycled. Winkle said the county would be watching the operation closely, but a probation period is not needed due to a contract the county has with Lake Shore. "They will be observed very closely," Winkle said. "I hope we can move forward." S446" ,UI „fo-7 Johnson also asked the coun- ty commissioners for the East Lake Fork Road baling site to be graded and paved. He also said the county should plan to construct a building so that recyclables can be stored inside, instead of outside in the weather. Allen also told commission- ers the recycling stations in the county would eventually have to have employees present to limit the amount of trash being dumped into the bins. The Star-News 10/11/2007 Site still being sought for McCall recycling center Aplan to build anew recycling center in McCall is still in search of a site. The McCall group Recycle Part- ners, a local citizens group has a tentative commitmentfrom Valley County to build the new center on 10 acres of county -owned land on East Deinhard Lane. However, county officials would rather use all 10 acres for a proposed affordable housing project and hopes an alternate site can be found for the center. Valley County commission- ers have pledged $50,000 for the project, and the city of McCall has given $44,000 in local-option taxes. Donations raised by Recycle Part- ners have added $6,000. Recycle Partners has also ap- plied for a Case Foundation grant that could yield additional funds up to $35,000. McCall City Council member Don Bailey has suggested the facility be located on the city's wastewater treatment property along West Deinhard Lane in McCall. City engineers have been tasked to see if the facility would work at the site, or if it would hamper future growth of the wastewater treatment facility. Plans for a new wastewater treatmentfacility will take up less space than the current facility, Bailey said. The city's engineer is now making sure that the building can be located on the property without it being built above sewer pipes, he said. "Within a couple of weeks or a month, we can make a decision if we can put it there," Bailey said. "If it works out, it would be a great place. There could be something that comes up, but I don't anticipate that." "If that doesn'tpan out, maybe something else might work," Esther Mulnick of Recycle Part- ners said. The idea to replace the cur- rent facility began more than a year ago. "The old one is a shack, Mulnick said. "It's just not big enough. It doesn't work." Mary Hart of Recycle Partners would like to see the new facility built by next fall. "Somuch depends onthe site," Hart said. The Star-News 11/21/2007 page 1 of 2 THE STATE OF OUR TRASH Collection company moves to expand recycling Star-News Photo by Michael Wells Gumer Cindo of Lake Shore Disposal loads cardboard boxes into the recyclable materials baler at the Lake Fork transfer site located on Fast Lake Fork Road. Lake Shore Disposal readies new site to help residents sort refuse BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star-News McCall residents may soon be unloading their recyclable materials at a new site located on Industrial Loop next to Lake Shore Disposal. Themove requires approval by Valley County Board of County Commissioners. The county holds the contract with Lake Shore Disposal. Currently, McCall residents use the facility on Jacob Street. If the move happens, it will allow Lake Shore to monitor residents as they discard their recy- clable materials. Residents have been depositing recyclable materials and trash in the wrong bins, and site manager Adam Johnson told county commis- sioners last month that the company would no longer accept mixed recyclable materials as the contract with the county states. If approved, signs will be posted with di- rections to the new facility with a telephone number for residents to call for directions, Johnson said. The move could be a temporary move if the McCall City Council and the board of commis- sioners agree on a permanent site for a recycle center in McCall. Possible locations for a future center are at the city's wastewater treatment plant property on West Deinhard Lane nor one acre of land the county owns on Eft Deinhard Lane in McCall. Lake Shore Disposal has received one new recycling bin, and two more have been ordered. They will be distributed to three collection sites in the county at Cascade, Donnelly and McCall. "We're moving in the right direction in the county," Johnson said. "It's what the people want, and that's a good thing." A r Star -News Photo by Michael Wells Gumer Cindo of Lake Shore Disposal loads cardboard boxes into the recyclable materials baler at the Lake Fork transfer site located on Fast Lake Fork Road. Lake Shore Disposal readies new site to help residents sort refuse BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News McCall residents may soon be unloading their recyclable materials at a new site located on Industrial Loop next to Lake Shore Disposal. Themove requires approval by Valley County Board of County Commissioners. The county holds the contract with Lake Shore Disposal. Currently, McCall residents use the facility on Jacob Street. If the move happens, it will allow Lake Shore to monitor residents as they discard their recy- clable materials. Residents have been depositing recyclable materials and trash in the wrong bins, and site manager Adam Johnson told county commis- sioners last month that the company would no longer accept mixed recyclable materials as the contract with the county states. If approved, signs will be posted with di- rections to the new facility with a telephone number for residents to call for directions, Johnson said. The move could be a temporary move if the McCall City Council and the board of commis- sioners agree on a permanent site for a recycle center in McCall. Possible locations for a future center are at the city's wastewater treatment plant property on West Deinhard Lane nor one acre of land the county owns on Eft Deinhard Lane in McCall. Lake Shore Disposal has received one new recycling bin, and two more have been ordered. They will be distributed to three collection sites in the county at Cascade, Donnelly and McCall. "We're moving in the right direction in the county," Johnson said. "It's what the people want, and that's a good thing." The Star-News PAGE 2 OF 2 Repair of baler means cleanup of Lake Fork site BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News Lake Shore Disposal is catching up on recycling materials from the county now that a baler is up and running at Valley County's Lake Fork transfer facility. The facility currently handles cardboard, newspaper, tin and aluminum. Inthe future, the county recycle program will recycle plastic, glass, office paper and magazines as well, site manager Adam Johnson said. The site had become an eye sore on East Lake Fork Road this sum- mer due to a county -owned baler that was not operating properly. The piles of recyclable materials caused Recycle Partners, a McCall citizens group, to complain to Valley County commissioners in September and October that Lake Shore Disposal was not recycling materials that residents wanted recycled. The group believed thatthe com- pany was dumping the recyclable materials in a landfill. Lake Shore Disposal had been stockpiling the materials for when the baler could be fixed, which is why the facility had large amounts of various recy- clable materials piled up outside, Johnson said. Lake Shore Disposal was told by commissioners to clean up the facility and to add plastic and glass to the recycling program. "We will do whatever the people want us to do," Johnson said. "We only require approval from the county commissioners." The site, located on East Lake Fork Road, now has bins holding various sorted materials. Before the cleanup, there were piles of tin and aluminum. Newspaper and cardboard were also outside exposed to the weather. The company delivered 69 tons of cardboard in October to a Boise area recycling facility, Johnson said. In September, the company baled 94 tons of cardboard. It could only bale 35 tons in August and 25 tons in July due to problems with the baler. Lake Shore also shipped 12 tons of newspaper in October. In Novem- ber, the company shipped 2.2 tons of aluminum and tin. The company is paid for the recyclable materials it transports to recycling facilities and is paid the market rate for each ton. The money is usedto payforthe county's recycling program. Responding to Complaints Recycle Partners, a local citizens group, had recently made several complaints to the county commissioners about the recycle program in McCall. Most of the problems stemmed from a county - owned baler machine at the county's East Lake Fork Road site that did not operate properly for most of the year. The new bins will take aluminum, tin and glass. The old bins will be used to collect card- board, newspaper and magazines, office paper and plastic once the full recycle program is up and running. Currently, the county recycles cardboard, newspaper, aluminum and tin. Recyclable materials, except glass, are taken first to the county -owned facility in Lake Fork; from there they are baled and shipped to recy- cling companies in Boise who buy the materials from Lake Shore Disposal. Glass will be used by the Valley County Road Department for use in its asphalt mix. The money from recycled materials pays for the recycling program in the county, Johnson said. Lake Shore Disposal hauls trash in Valley, Adams and parts of Washington counties. Its 31 employees serve about 7,800 residential custom- ers and 400 commercial customers. The company charges customers in McCall $14.27 per month to haul trash from the curb to the county's transfer site located in the county southeast of McCall on Spink Lane. County residents are charged $14.93 per month for the service. Trash: Collection company moves to expand recycling (Continued from Page A -1) Cascade and Donnelly charge their residents a fee for trash service and send Lake Shore Dis- posal a check each month. In Cascade, residents pay $9.59 per month if they use their own trash cans or $11.99 if they use a Lake Shore Disposal cart. Donnelly residents pay $8 per month, though an increase to $8.56 is planned. The trash is then hauled to Idaho Waste Systems in Elmore County as is stipulated in the Valley County contract. Lake Shore is paid $26.44 per ton to haul the trash in 48 -foot trailers. Each trip to the Elmore County regional landfill takes about eighthours to travelthe 350- mile round trip, Johnson said. Valley County paid Lake Shore $1.13 million during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Valley County can terminate the contract with Lake Shore Dis- posal if the contractor is found in default of the agreement. If Lake Shore fails to collect trash for residential pickup schedules, then the county would notify Lake Shore that it is in default of its contract. The contract could then be terminated by the county within 30 days of notification if the company fails to resume service or "take all steps reasonably necessary to address the con- sequences to its customers and the county." Residents in Adams County, which has its own landfill eight milessouthof Council,pay$13.29, in the cities and $13.87 in the county each month for collection Service. See TRASH, Page A-13 Lakeshore Disposal expands recycling BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News LakeshoreDisposal has installedthree new recycling bins in Valley County that will expand the kinds of recyclable materials the county can accept. The recycling program now accepts glass, plastics, magazines, newspaper, office paper, cardboard, tin, aluminum and brown paper grocery bags. In McCall, the new bin is located on Jacob Street. In Donnelly, the bin is located across West Roseberry Road from the Donnelly Fire Department. In Cascade, the bin is located at the corner of Front and Mill streets. "Recycling is something that a lot of peo- ple want, but it has to be convenient," Valley County commission Chair Jerry Winkle said. "We wanted these new bins." The bins, which cost $8,000 each, were put in place Friday, and the McCall bins quickly filled, Lakeshore Disposal site manager Adam Johnson said. "It is a great thing for McCall and all of Valley County," Johnson said. Brightly colored office paper is still not accepted as a recyclable material, Johnson said. Magazines should be placed in the newspaper bins and brown paper grocery bags should be placed in the cardboard bins, he said. Johnson said that recyclers should also remove their recyclable materials from any plastic bags that were used to transport the recyclable materials. The plastic bags should then be placed in the plastics bin. During the holiday season, Lakeshore has added an extra 30 cubic -yard bin at the McCall site to collect extraboxes from Christmas gifts. Valley County commission Chair Jerry Winkle examines one of the new recycling bins installed by Lakeshore Disposal at the Cascade recycling center. star -News Photo by Michael Wells The Star-News 3/27/2008 Citizens group wants Lake Shore removed from recycling Recycle Partners cites neglect; Lake Shore blames weather, contamination BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News A citizens group asked Valley County com- missioners on Monday to take away the county's recycling program from Lake Shore Disposal due to continued problems. Recycle Partners of McCall asked the com- Recycling Citizens group wants Lake Shore removed from recycling (Continued from Page A -1) Johnson also saidheavy snows prevented recycling loads from be- ing transported to recycling centers in January and February due to access problems at the Lake Fork processing center. On Saturday, the company transported a load of cardboard to Pacific Recycling in Boise. A load of newspapers also was transported to the Pacific operation in Nampa in December, he said. Johnson told the commission- ers that 70 percent of the recycling bins were contaminated with other trash, from tires to beer bottles. "We have to monitor them bet- ter," he said. Recycling materials that include cardboard, newspaper, aluminum, tin, plastic, office paper and glass are being stored and will be trans- ported to recycling centers in the Boise area, he said. missioners to break the contract because of recycling materials that were dumped in a landfill in Mountain Home. Lake Shore Site Manager Adam Johnson told commissioners eight loads of recycling materials were contaminated with trash. That meant they had to be dumped in the landfill rather than shipped to recycling centers in the Boise area. A motorcycle was dumped in the McCall recy- cling bin marked for cardboard. The cardboard was later recycled, but other loads were contaminated with trash, Johnson said. See RECYCLING, Page A -10 `System is Broken' "You as county commissioners can choose to continue to honor your contract with Lake Shore, regardless of the fact that they are not in anyway doing the job, Mary Hart of Recycle Partners said. "You as county commission- ers along with Lake Shore can continue to deceive the public into thinking that recycling is taking place when it is not," Hart said. "We will no longer be part of a system that is broken; we will no longer tolerate lies and deception." Hart told the commissioners that Recycle Partners is close to acquiring a site for a recycling center in McCall. The group has had road construction, excavation and architectural design work do- nated. Funding received so far includes $44,000 in McCall local - optiontaxmoney, $6,000 inprivate donations, and a pledge of $50,000 from the county. The citizens group wants commissioners to terminate Lake Shore's recycling contract and have the county hire an em- ployee to oversee the recycling program. "Wemustknowif wewillhave a functioning recycling program by April in order for us to pursue the new site," Hart said. Recycle Partners could have the new center built by the late ag fall, she said. ?/2--7/0 g The county commissioners informed Hart that they would discuss the county's options at the April 14 meeting, which was satisfactory to Hart. "We've got to look at all the options before we see what we can do," Commissioner Gordon Cruickshank said. The commissioners directed Valley County Prosecuting At- torney Matt Williams to review the contract with Lake Shore Disposal. I'm seeing the citizens of Valley County going out of their way to get this recycling program on the road to success," Commis- sioner Jerry Winkle said. "I also see Lake Shore is do- ing nothing to assist them or to enhance the recycling," Winkle said. Commissioner Frank Eld disagreed that Lake Shore had done nothing. Eld credited the company for acquiring last fall new recycling bins to accept more materials that are recyclable, although he was otherwise unhappy with the results. "We've got some real gaps in getting it actually recycled," Eld said. The Star-News 6/12/2008 Recycling group wants Valley County to pitch In another $117,000 BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News Recycle Partners asked th Valley County Board of Commis sioners Mondayfor $117,000 more to Help build a planned recycling center in McCall. The group also wants the county to staff the recycling center with up to two county employees. Recycle Partners wants to build a recycling center in McCall, similar to the recycling center in New Meadows oper- ated by the nonprofit Heartland Recyclers. The proposal asked the county for $60,000 for completing the construction of the build- ing, $30,000 for pavement and a fence and $27,000 for a skid steer or fork lift. The money is in addition to $50,000 the county already pledged to the project last year. The project also received. $44,000 in McCall Local Option Tax money and $6,000 in private donations. Recycle Partners is also asking the McCall LOT Com- mission for money to purchase a state -of -the -art baler for the center. "It's pretty spendy," Commis- sion Chair Jerry Winkle said. He Proposed a workshop to discuss the proposal further. The commissioners agreed that the proposal be hashed out at a workshop on June 25 at 2 p.m. at the courthouse. The city of McCall has in- formally identified a piece of ground in the northwest corner of the wastewater plant for the e recycling center City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. The land is east of the Lake Shore Disposal property on Industrial Loop. The city would lease the land for $1 per year, ac- cording to the proposal before the commissioners. The plan is to build a 6,000 - square -foot steel building. Construction would begin in August and be completed in November if everything falls into place. Once the building is built, Recycle Partners would transfer the ownership of the center to Valley County. The center would be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. or no less than five days a week for the same hours, accord- ing to the plan. Lake Shore Disposal would transport recycling materials col- lected in Cascade and Donnelly to the center in McCall. Lake Shore Disposal Site Manager Adam Johnson was on hand for Monday's presentation and helped develop some of the plan. Glass-would be transported to the county road department site on East Lake Fork Road for use in the county's asphalt mix. Trucks would transport the re- cycled materials from the McCall center to Western Recycling in Boise. All the revenues from the McCall recycling center would go to the county. The Star-News 3/26/2009 Lake Shore owners bring in new team New manager, other employees will try to improve recycling BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The parent company of Lake Shore Disposal in Valley County has brought in a new management team to meet the expectations of Valley County commissioners, especially over recycling. The new site manager for the Valley County operation is Everette Arter, 44, formerly from Ontario, Ohio. Arter replaces former site manager Adam Johnson. McCall native Thomas Frasier has been named as the operations supervisor, a position that had been unfilled under Johnson. Frasier previously worked at Les Schwab in McCall for three years. There is also a new office manager and a maintenance manager. "We need to be a partner (with the county commission- ers) and not a problem," said Chris-Carey, district manager for Waste Connections, which. owns Lake Shore Disposal. "We are going in a new direction because we are not as good as we can be," Carey said. Themainproblem stemmed from how the company han- dled its recycling contract. At times, recycled materi- als had to be dumped because people would -throw trash, such as motorcycles, toilet bowls or food scraps into bins Star -News Photo by Michael Wells Thomas Frasier, left, operations manager for Lake Shore Disposal, and Everette Arter, the new Valley County manager for Lake Shore, stand by a recycling bin in McCall. marked for cardboard or alu- minum cans. To reduce contamination, Frasier works to check the recycle bins at three locations in the county to make sure the bins are being emptied before they are too full. The company also plans to improve signage at the recy- cling drop -offs in the hope that people will do a better job of separating their recycled ma- terials into the proper bins. "We have had some growth in recycling in the valley," Fra- sier said. "Praise to the people in the county that made that happen." Accountability is what Carey would like to see the new management team improve on from the past in McCall. Lake Shore Disposal em- ploys 25 people at its McCall facility located on Industrial Loop off Boydstun Street. Waste Connections is the third largest waste collec- tion company in the United States. The company has also hired several new route driv- ers from the local community, Carey said. Arter had worked for Waste Connections for seven years before leaving the company to work for Waste Management the last two years. "I love Waste Connections," Arter said. "It's a great com- pany." The company operates the county's transfer site east of Donnelly, picks up commer- cial and residential trash and recycling in the county. The Star-News 5/13/2010 NEW McCALL RECYCLING CENTER MOVES FORWARD, STILL LACKS ACCESS BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star-News Access to the proposed new site of the Valley County recycling center in McCall is still up in the air, but that did not stop the McCall Axea Planning & Zoning Commission from passing on a recommendation Tuesday night. The P &Z reviewed the plans by Recycle Partners to relocate the center from its current location on Jacob Street and recommended its approval to the McCall City Council. The group wants to build an 8,000 - square- foot drive- through recycling facility at the east end of Industrial Loop near the McCall Wastewater Treatment Plant. The two -acre lot already has ac- cess through city property but that would require a more expensive road to be built, project architect Claire Remsberg said. Better access would be through a 30- foot -long piece of land owned by Vernon Grotjohn of McCall. Negotiations with Grotjohn for an easement through his land were expected by the end of April, but those negotiations have not yet been completed, McCall Planner Bradley Kraushaar told commissioners. The city expects the access deal to come soon, Kraushaar said. See RECYCLING, Page A-2 Recycling (Continued from Page A -1) "We feel pretty darn confi- dent that we will have access to that property," he said. Recycle partners has re- ceived $50,000 in McCall Local Option Tax funding and $50,000 from Valley County for the project. The proposed location, next to Lake Shore Disposal's yard, would save the com- pany transportation costs in processing the glass, cardboard, tin, aluminum, plastic and paper left at the recycling center. If access can be gained from Industrial Loop, _ the construction of the building's outer shell and drive - through area could be ready by the end of this construction season, Recy- cling Partners spokesperson Mary Hart said. The baling section and office space could be completed next year, Hart said. Customers would drivE into a covered bay with- multiple marked bins foi recycling materials anc drive out the other end of the building. The drive - through area would not be heated, but the section with the baler and office would be heated and insulated. The Star-News 3/24/2011 Lakeshore wants to make recycling mandatory Valley commissioners cool to costs of curbside pickups BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News Lakeshore Disposal wants the county to impose mandatory curbside recycling for about 3,500 residents in Valley County. The proposal was made Monday to Valley County commissioners, who were reluctant to sign onto the proposal. Lakeshore's McCall Site Manager Ev- erette Arter and Division Vice - President Jeff Brewster proposed making recycling mandatory for all citizens in McCall, Don- nelly and Cascade plus residents of larger subdivisions along Idaho 55. The proposal would end separation of recyclable materialsandrecyclingof glass and some plastics. Each customer would receive a 96- gallon recycling cart that would be picked up every two weeks. Weekly trash service would remain the same under the proposal, Arter said. "There is a heightened interest in curbside recycling," he said. New $5.50 Monthly Fee As part of the new service, residents would be charged an additional $5.50 per month. It almost has to be mandatory for it to work," Arter said. "If you give them the cart, they will use it," Brewster said, notingparticipation is up to 80 percent in Twin Falls, where the company rolled out the program in January. The proposal would save the county the cost of hauling about 53 tons in trash that would otherwise be transported to landfills in Elmore County, Brewster said. He did not have figures on proposed savings. The county would receive about $262 per year in recycling revenue, Brewster said. Commissioners Ray Moore and Gordon Cruickshank said they were against a mandatory program without seeing the cost savings to the county. They directed Arter and Brewster to produce those figures at the commission- er's April 4 meeting. "I'm pretty reluctant, in this economy, to force what is essentially a tax," Moore said. See RECYCLE, Page A -2 Recycle (Cont'nued from Page A -1) "I would have liked to have seen last year's num- bers," Cruickshank said. "If it was a wash then I think we would feel good about it." Carts Proposed for Recycling The proposal would stop the current practice of sepa- rating materials and allow residents to put many recycla- ble materials into their cart for curbside pickup except glass and some plastics. Currently, glass is collect- ed at the company's recycling bins andtaken by the county's road and bridge department to a crusher in Lake Fork to be used as road fill on county roads. A second proposal brought to commissioners on Monday would keep trash service as it is and would only change the amount Lakeshore charges the countyfor recycling mate- rials placed in bins in McCall, Donnelly and Cascade. The county would be charged three times more for the same service, up from $2,130 per year the county pays now for Lakeshore to handle its recycled materials to $6,500 per year under the new proposal. The second proposal did not interest Moore or Cruick- shank. Commissioner Jerry Winkle was absent from Monday's meeting. �I�N1N Sd��a The Star-News 3/17/2011 NEW McCALL RECYCLING CENTER PUT ON HOLD County says more money needed; $44,000 in LOT funds returned BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The building a of a new recycling center in McCallhas beenputon hold after Valley County officials said there was not enough money to start construction this year. The delay means $44,000 in McCall Local Option Tax funds slated for the project have been returned to the city. The proposal would have provided a per- manent home for the center, which is now in a temporary location near the Valley County Courthouse Annex on Deinhard Lane. The citizens group Recycle Partners ob- tained $44,000 in LOT funds in 2008 for the new recycling center, which would be built on land ownedby the city near its wastewatertreatment plant on Deinhard Lane. For the last two years, Valley County allo- cated $50,000 for the project, bringing the total available funds to $144,000. Recycle Partners believed the amount was enough to begin construction this year, but Valley County Solid Waste Program Manager Ralph`McKenzie told the city earlier this year estimates for the project were between $360,000 and $420,000. See CENTER, Page A -2 Center (Continued from Page A -1) The county would not begin construction on the project until it could be fully funded, McKenzie told the city. Project Scope Grew The planned facility would include a drop -off area, com- mercial baler and room for storing the bales of recycled materials. Recycle Partners had ar- ranged for donated excavation site work and landscaping work as well as $6,000 in cash pledges from private citizens, Esther Mulnick of Recycle Partners said. Idaho Power also pledged to give a discounted price for thecostof buryingpowerlines to the site, and Western Recy- cling in Boise said it would donate a baler, Mulnick said. Work was also donated to design the facility as well as for legal work, Mulnick said. The city donated the land and waived design fees. With the news of the delay, Recycle Partners has decided to walk away from the project and return the $44,000 in LOT money, Mulnick said, "We were ready to go," Mulnick said. "I really hope that they build it." The project grew from a drive - through drop -off site to a much larger facility as the county got involved, Mulnick said. Originally, the county was willing toput up the outer shell of the building and finish it off later. Then county officials wanted a drive - through facil- ity with a baler and space for the bales of recycled materi- als.