Montezuma County’s plan to become a regional recycling hub took a step forward this week.
As part of a reorganization, the county landfill is switching from a system that bales and stacks trash to one that loads and compacts garbage in cells.
To get there, the county purchased a 2015 BOMAG 473 compactor for $473,000. Landfill manager Shak Powers received delivery of the hulking, bright-yellow machine this week.
“We’re training on it now, and everyone is certified to operate it,” he said.
A new compaction permit from the Colorado Department of Health and Environment is expected soon.
The compaction system frees up the baler and warehouse tipping floor, which will now be used exclusively for recycling.
“The county wants to increase recycling here by 40 percent,” Powers said. “We’re already a regional landfill, why not become a regional recycling center?”
The recycling business is complicated, but the landfill’s large baling facility and expansive acreage makes it possible to process and store recyclables before they go to market.
The baling warehouse, also called the tipping floor because that is where material is dumped, will be divided into three sections: paper, cardboard and single-stream recycling.
When the market is good, the material is sold to a processing facility. Cardboard for example goes for $90 per ton. The landfill already processes recycling for the city of Cortez and the Four Corners Recycling Initiative.
“Recycling adds life expectancy to the landfill, and the products are made into something useful instead of being forever buried,” Powers said.
The county is pushing for garbage haulers to offer their customers bins for single-stream recycling.
In a single-stream system, recyclables such as aluminum, tin, and corrugated cardboard are mixed into one bin. Glass must be stored separately.
The convenience of single-stream could attract more users, because participants wouldn’t be required to separate most of their recyclables.
“With single-stream, you could increase participation by 30-35 percent,” said David Johnson, district manager for Waste Management. “Some recycle to recycle; others will only do it if it’s convenient.”
Cortez garbage service already offers source-separated recycling, with different bins for each product. County residents served by Baker Sanitation and Waste Management have requested single-stream recycling in the county. Those companies are negotiating with the county landfill on tipping costs to drop off single stream.
The county would then bale, store and sell it to a Materials Reclamation Facility, which separates it and sells off the different types of material.
The county emphasized that current recycling systems, including those by Cortez and Four Corners Recycling Initiative, won’t be affected.
“They would stay the same, but we’re interested in doing more,” said county commissioner Larry Don Suckla.
Volume and public education are key components for making single-stream recycling successful. It only goes for around $2 per ton, so you need to bale a lot of it. And participants must be educated on what can go into a single stream bin. If there is contamination, the whole load is dumped in the landfill and wasted.
As for the compaction system, fresh garbage is basically run over by the 60,000-pound specialized compaction machine crushing into a smaller volume. As with the baling system, a layer of soil is added at the end of every day.
“It’s more efficient, and takes less labor,” Powers said, adding that when wind speeds exceed 40 mph, operations are suspended.
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com