Baker Sanitation Incorporated (BSI) has begun offering corrugated cardboard recycling services to its commercial customers and is providing recycling containers to customers to collect and divert the material from burial in the Montezuma County Landfill.
Previously, only businesses located in the city of Cortez service area had an opportunity to recycle material onsite.
We have decreased our trash amount by 50 percent since we have started recycling cardboard. This is a win-win situation for everybody, said Tammy Black with Choice Building Supply.
BSI has been working closely with the Four Corners Recycling Initiative and the Montezuma County Landfill staff to design a program that expands on existing recycling programs and diverts the maximum amount of material from burial in the landfill. BSI estimates that they can triple the amount of material currently recycled when their program is at full utilization. This could translate into over 28,000 of cubic feet of landfill space saved per year.
It takes community effort to achieve this goal. That is why it is so important to work closely with the Four Corners Recycling Initiative and the Montezuma County landfill staff, because together we can achieve this and provide a service in high demand in this area, said Linda Workman, BSI Recycling Coordinator.
BSI has also placed large bins to collect mixed paper, mixed metals, and corrugated cardboard behind Montezuma-Cortez High School, Dove Creek, Cedar Mesa estates and at their main office location in Cortez. The bins are available for public use. Paperboard, the brown waxed boxes that crackers, cereal, pasta, and beer typically come in, is not accepted in the recycling bins.
The new service is part of a grant BSI received from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment via the Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity grant program designed to increase recycling rates across the state of Colorado. BSI is matching the grant funds dollar for dollar to get their recycling program up and running.
BSI hauls the materials to the Montezuma County Landfill to be baled. Once enough bales are produced, they are shipped out of state to be recycled into the same product or a new product.
Over 400 tons of mixed paper, mixed metals, and corrugated cardboard is currently collected and recycled annually in Montezuma County. This material saves nearly 32,000 cubic feet of landfill space each year.
For more information, please contact Loren or Linda Workman at [email protected].
