Excessive cost stop St. Regis recycling program
St. Regis residents were disappointed and a little perplexed last week when they discovered that the towns recycling bin near the school was gone. Questions quickly developed regarding why the large blue container established by the St. Regis Resort Board had been removed.
Business owner and Resort Board member, Kenny Jasper explained, “In a nut shell the bin became too expensive for the district. With finite resources we felt perhaps bringing back the town cleanup instead of the bin would give us a better return on the districts expenditure.”
The recycling program started in St. Regis in October of 2018. Money generated by the towns resort tax directly went towards paying for the large recycling bin. Chairman of the St. Regis Resort Board Jackie Sanford said the intention behind the recycling program, “Was the desire to help keep our community clean.”
Rules for the recycling system were simple. Sanford said, “The outside of the bin had a list of what could be thrown in the bin and what could not. The bin was open until it was full. Then it was emptied and then opened back up again.” Popular recyclables that were accepted were cardboard, aluminum, and certain plastics. Regular household garbage, glass, chemicals, appliances, or tires were not allowed.
Community members speculated that improper dumping was a factor in why the bin had been removed. But Sanford noted, “To my knowledge, there was never an issue with the bin being used incorrectly or people putting the wrong types of trash in it except once. This last September someone put a bunch of roofing materials in the bin.”
Ultimately it was the financial cost of running the recycling program that forced the resort board to make the difficult decision. She said, “The cost is the only reason why we stopped having the recycling bin. For the month of December, we paid about $1800 for the recycle bin. It had to be emptied twice that month.”
Jessica Connolly, the District Clerk for the St. Regis Resort Board broke down the numbers during the program’s existence. She said, “On average, for the first six months it was around $800 every other month. Then in January of 2020 it became monthly for the $800 emptying fee.” Once the pandemic hit around mid-way through 2020 with everyone ordering more items from online, the fee for Republic Services to empty the bin increased to twice a month. This became roughly a $1600 monthly cost up through end of the year.
Connolly also mentioned, “It wasn’t that people were misusing the bin, but unfortunately people weren’t crushing or breaking down their boxes so the container would get full quicker and Republic would have to come out more often. They said if we’d have people flatten their boxes the container could’ve lasted longer each month.”
Many residents that frequently used the recycling bin were discouraged to see it gone. So, the Resort Board is brainstorming other recycling options. Sanford offered, “We are talking about the possibility of getting a baler to bale cardboard and plastic. This looks like it might be more cost effective than the recycle bin. We are waiting to getting more info on this before we make a final decision.”
In the meantime, the town of Superior's recycling operations are located on East Mullan Road at the town shop and it is open to all county residents. Drop off times are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is behind a locked gate at all other times and staffed by volunteers when open, which serves to keep out garbage. This service to the community is paid for with donations and pays for itself.
The St. Regis Resort Board meets the second Monday of every month at 6 p.m. in the St. Regis Community Center. It is open to the public, and residents are encouraged to attend future meetings in an effort to generate new recycling possibilities to meet the town’s needs.