Lake Shore Disposal is catching up on recycling materials from the county now that a baler is up and running at Valley County's Lake Fork transfer facility.

The facility currently handles cardboard, newspaper, tin and aluminum. In the future, the county recycle program will recycle plastic, glass, office paper and magazines as well, site manager Adam Johnson said.

The site had become an eye sore on East Lake Fork Road this summer due to a county-owned baler that was not operating properly.

The piles of recyclable materials caused Recycle Partners, a McCall citizens group, to complain to Valley County commissioners in September and October that Lake Shore Disposal was not recycling materials that residents wanted recycled.

The group believed that the company was dumping the recyclable materials in a landfill. Lake Shore Disposal had been stockpiling the materials for when the baler could be fixed, which is why the facility had large amounts of various recyclable materials piled up outside,
Johnson said.

Lake Shore Disposal was told by commissioners to clean up the facility and to add plastic and glass to the recycling program.

"We will do whatever the people want us to do," Johnson said. "We only require approval from the county commissioners."

The site, located on East Lake Fork Road, now has bins holding various sorted materials. Before the cleanup, there were piles of tin and aluminum. Newspaper and cardboard were also outside exposed to the weather.

The company delivered 69 tons of cardboard in October to a Boise area recycling facility, Johnson said. In September, the company baled 94 tons of cardboard.

It could only bale 35 tons in August and 25 tons in July due to problems with the baler.

Lake Shore also shipped 12 tons of newspaper in October. In November, the company shipped 2.2 tons of aluminum and tin.

The company is paid for the recyclable materials it transports to recycling facilities and is paid the market rate for each ton. The money is used to pay for the county's recycling program.