The Montezuma County Landfill is adjusting its recycling program to help meet the demand for drywall to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
Landfill manager Shak Powers is asking recyclers to include pressed paperboard and brown paper in with their cardboard stack. Pressed paper board includes things like frozen pizza boxes, cracker boxes and cereal boxes.
In the past, the landfill has asked to keep pressed paperboard and brown paper separate from the cardboard, but now recycling brokers are asking that it be combined.
“The reason for this is that these wood stock fibers are needed to make the brown paper backing that is on Sheetrock and drywall,” Powers said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said 560,000 families have registered for its housing assistance program, and 53,630 residents were staying in government-funded hotel rooms, according to The Associated Press.
“This is one small way people can help in the recovery effort for the areas affected by the hurricane, so we would encourage even those who do not normally recycle to make use of the drop-off locations with their cardboard, paperboard and brown paper,” Powers said.
The city of Cortez recycling program, Four Corners Recycling Initiative and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe are also asking recycling customers to include pressed paperboard along with cardboard to help hurricane recovery efforts.
The potential destruction of incoming Hurricane Irma and destructive wildfires in the western U.S. also could impact drywall supplies.
Public bins to drop-off recycling materials are located at the county landfill, Mancos and Dolores school campuses, and the Dolores Public Lands office.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com