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, went before 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 being dumped in a landfill.
"I've heard these promises before." commissioner 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 recycle bins. He emphasized that the public needs to only place the recyclable materials in the proper bins and not throw in other trash.
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.
Currently, cardboard, newspaper, 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 Cruickshank 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 Partners said.
Mary Hart of Recycle Partners wanted Lake Shore to be placed on a probationary term so that the program is accountable.
"We want to make sure Lake Shore is recycling," Hart said. "They will all be recycled," Johnson said. "We haven't thrown the stiff away"
Lake Shore has no incentive to dump recyclables in a landfill, said Don Allen of Waste Connections, the Twin Falls company that owns Lake Shore Disposal.
Hauling recyclables to a recycling center pays for the program, Allen said. If the company dumped the materials in a landfill, it would not make money from the recyclable materials, he said.
Johnson said he has provided Eld with receipts 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."
Johnson also asked the county 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 commissioners the recycling stations in the county would eventually have to have employees present to limit the amount of trash being dumped into the bins.
