Recycled news

Plastics and recycling was, again, a prime issue of discussion at the regularly scheduled meeting of the Upper North Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) at 7 p.m. on Sept. 5 at the Encampment/Riverside Branch Library. With Doug and Jennifer Duplisea, Richard Hodges and prospective member Schelby Merrill in attendance, the public nearly outnumbered the board members.

Along with the ongoing discussion of recycling within the UPRSWDD, the landfill board also held a public hearing of their proposed budget for fiscal year 2018/2019. The hearing, which lasted 32 minutes, was often punctuated with tense exchanges between the board and the Dupliseas. Following several questions concerning the presentation of the budget, the board voted to adopt the budget as presented with no changes made.

It was during site reports for Encampment and Saratoga facilities from Ron Munson discussion surrounding recycling began. Vice-chairman Leroy Stephenson informed Munson that he had concerns about landfill users being told not to divert their plastic or glass from their waste.

“Admittedly, we are hauling it to the CD (construction/demolition) pit and we are getting rid of it. The important thing is, we need to divert it from our waste streams because we can’t continue to haul it to Laramie and bury it in their landfill. So, people have got to quit telling people that we’re not going to recycle,” said Stephenson.

As was reported previously (“Plastic problem,” page 6 of the Aug. 8 edition of the Saratoga Sun), plastic and glass recyclables are being placed in the CD pit due to the cost of having the items recycled as well as the price of shipping the recyclables.

Following the implementation of China’s “National Sword” policy, recycling of different types of solid waste have all but stopped in the United States. According to a May 29, 2018 article from the New York Times (“Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not”), several western states that depend on the Chinese recycling plants have been hit hard by the policy.

“In some areas—like Eugene, Ore., and parts of Idaho, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii—local officials and garbage haulers will no longer accept certain items for recycling, in some cases refusing most plastics, glass and certain types of paper,” stated the article.

“I’m trying to be very careful in not telling people to not divert it, to not take it out of their trash. I’m telling people to take it to Rawlins where it can be recycled. That’s what I’m telling people,” said Hodges to the board. “I understand why you made the decision. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it.”

Following a question from D. Duplisea about the UPRSWDD shipping their recycling to Rawlins, chairman Randy Raymer informed those gathered that the Rawlins facility was paying to have their glass and plastic recycled through Interwest Paper, a Utah-based company, and there would be issues with one district subsiding the recycling from another.

“Somewhere along the line, somebody is going to get thumped from taking waste outside their area and their tax dollars being used to subsidize items coming from someplace else. This place is not a revenue generator and they ship their trash just like we do, so their costs are very similar to us,” said Raymer.

D. Duplisea expressed his concern about plastics being placed in the CD pit and what he felt would be an eventual contamination of the groundwater following the breakdown of the plastic.

According to the Wyoming Department of Quality, however, while plastic is not considered inert it is acceptable to be placed in an unlined construction/demolition landfill. Additionally, unlined construction/demolition landfills are not permissible to be constructed unless it has been determined by the DEQ that the location of the proposed landfill will not have an impact on the groundwater.

Chapter 4, Section 3(m) of the Solid Waste Rules and Regulations (SWRR) state “facilities shall not be located in an area where the department, after investigation by the applicant, finds there is reasonable probability that solid waste disposal will have a detrimental effect on surface water or groundwater quality.”

Chapter 4, Section 6(b) outlines the procedures that landfills are required to follow in terms of testing the groundwater via DEQ approved wells placed at the facility. Testing at the Saratoga facility has, until recently, taken place on a quarterly basis to establish a baseline and will now take place bi-annually.

Along with the recycled recycling discussion, Raymer announced the UPRSWDD had recently received an award from the Wyoming Solid Waste and Recycling Association. The solid waste district had received the award for leading the state in recycling for populations under 5,000.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the UPRSWDD will be at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the Saratoga Town Hall.