recycling program has focused almost solely on the cost of the current recycling collection program, and has failed to point out that the cost of the county collection program is off-set by the $ savings of not burying this material in the landfill and by the jobs a growing recycling program creates in the Flathead.
Using cost figures from a recent study the landfill had done on the cost savings of landfill space resulting from not burying recyclables,
We concur with the recent Daily Interlake Editorial that stated "We agree, however, with the Solid Waste District board's consensus that the county has an obligation to recycle. Recycling isn't the only service that costs the county money. It costs big bucks to maintain roads, provide adequate law enforcement and so on. In this day and age, recycling has become part of our mindset; it's the right thing to do. If you don't believe us, consider the poll data from www.dailyinterlake.com,
where we asked whether the county should pay the $188,000 a year to maintain current levels of recycling. Fully 72 percent of people responding said the county should pay the increased price, while only 28 percent argued the county should make fiscal prudence its priority and cut the level of recycling." Recycling as an industry nationally is growing and changing. According to a recent Bank of America-Merrill Lynch report, the global waste and recycling business is worth $1 trillion a year. And it could be worth double that by 2020. Studies show that the more convenient it is for people to recycle the more they do. Spokane, Washington is now achieving a 40% recycling rate with the installation of a new Material Recovery Facility. (Flathead County, for all items recycled by the county and by private industry is at around 24%).
The recent growth in the number of Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) are making it easier to recycle. (click here to view a short video on this on how these facilities sort co-mingled or single-stream recycables that are collected in the northwest). Investments in these facilities across the northwest is increasing the viability and quantity of materials being collected for recycling. Montana does not currently have any MRF's and so we still face the added transportation costs of getting collected material to these centers or directly to those who buy this recovered material.
Locally we are seeing businesses like Target offer recycling collection services by filling empty delivery trucks with recyclable materials their customers bring in, or businesses like some of our local grocery stores who are contracting to fill other empty delivery trucks leaving our valley with cardboard and plastic bags that they generate from their grocery business. We need to spend time over the next year learning from the ingenious thinking of these local businesses and others in the community to find ways to grow recycling in Flathead County and keep costs down.
Even if you don't currently recycle, all county residents benefit from those that do---as recycling means we are saving landfill space and we are not burying materials that can be turned into new products. Recycling also result in reduced energy costs and environmental impacts.
Please take time to speak up for recycling!Remember that recycling:
SAVES NATURAL RESOURCES - The national recycling rate of 30% saves the equivalent of more than 5 million gallons of gasoline, reducing dependence on foreign oil by 114 million barrels.
SAVES ENERGY - Paper recycling saves up to 70% of the energy needed to create paper from new timber. Aluminum recycling saves up to 95% of the energy required to make new aluminum from raw ore (equivalent to filling the can 2/3 full of gasoline)
SAVES CLEAN AIR & WATER - Recycled paper uses 80% less water and produces 95% less air pollution than virgin paper production.
SAVES LANDFILL SPACE - Landfills last longer when recyclables are being diverted.
SAVES MONEY CREATES JOBS - Recycling creates far more jobs than do landfills.