The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – Columbia County’s recycling program will be up and ready to begin receiving mixed paper/newspaper, aluminum, and cardboard as soon as Basin Disposal, Inc. places bins at the county’s new recycling station.

The station is located in a fenced in area slightly north and east of the entrance to the transfer facility on S. Cottonwood St. BDI will place three bins there to receive corrugated cardboard, mixed paper/newspaper, and aluminum, and the site will be monitored by camera.

That’s the good news. The bad news is the market for recyclable materials is becoming unsustainable.

Waitsburg and College Place have recently shuttered their programs, and it could happen here, as well, according to local officials.

“China has just completely shut it down,” said County Public Works Director Drew Woods. “And we are in trouble cost-wise.

Recycling is no longer profitable for local communities, since China has banned the import of many recycled materials, including unsorted paper and plastic bottles. The issue is affecting recycling on the entire west coast, Woods said.

Woods said the cost per ton to process mixed paper/newspaper is $100-150, which doesn’t include the haul fee of $255 per container, and the payment for cardboard is down to $50 per ton. By comparison, it costs the county $32 per ton to dispose of garbage collected at the transfer station.

“If there is contamination, the recyclers won’t pay anything, and we are charged to dispose of the contaminated recycling as garbage, Woods said.

The county depends on a $102,000 state Local Solid Waste Financial Assistance grant to help with recycling and provide for household hazardous waste mitigation, but the legislature has cut state-wide funding by 33% in this biennium.

Woods said without the grant, tipping fees would have to be raised an additional $40. Tipping fees are currently $89.90 a ton, he said.

“We made a promise to the public,” said Woods. He says he intends to deliver on recycling, though he made it clear his number one priority is proper household waste mitigation.

Woods serves on the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, along with Commissioner Norm Passmore, the Town of Starbuck, the City of Dayton, Basin Disposal Inc., and others. This committee will work to prioritize programs and make recommendations to the community, he said.