Free recycling options shrink

Five blue box locations in county to close Jan. 1

By John Dodge | The Olympian • Published October 31, 2008

• Links
• Comments (0)

Thurston County will close five of its nine blue box recycling stations throughout the county Jan. 1 because of budget cuts and continued problems with illegal dumping, solid waste officials said.

Expansion of curbside recycling programs also makes the free residential recycling centers, which have been around since 1992, a less-vital recycling tool, county solid waste education and outreach specialist Terri Thomas said.

The county collected 3,421 tons of paper, cardboard, glass, metal and plastics at the nine sites last year. More than 1,400 tons was handled at the Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center at Hawks Prairie, one of the busier sites and one of four that will remain open.

By comparison, the Olympia and LeMay curbside recycling programs collected 18,284 tons, county records say.

The decision is unpopular among patrons interviewed at the College Street Safeway drop-off center in Lacey this week.

"Curbside recycling is too damn expensive for me," said county resident Bob Robertson, who brings a truckload of cardboard and mixed paper to the College Street blue boxes every three months. "I guess I'll just have to start going to the Hawks Prairie site."

Thomas said the monthly cost for curbside recycling for county residents is $12.89 with garbage service and $5.13 for recyclables only. "We understand this is a change, and it's frustrating for some people," she said. "But they may save time and gas money — and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions — by using curbside service."

YWCA volunteer Marsha Lorentson said she uses the blue box center to recycle cardboard boxes collected through the YWCA's Other Bank Program, which provides personal hygiene products for women in need.

"If this site is so heavily used, how can they say it's not needed anymore?" Lorentson asked.

The blue box sites are plagued by disposal of garbage in recycling bins, Thomas said.

"It's kind of like the break-room refrigerator at work," she said. "No one takes responsibility for proper disposal."

It costs the county about $180,000 a year to operate the blue box residential recycling program through a contract with LeMay. The county must reduce its solid waste budget to respond to a slowing economy and reduced solid waste revenue because of increased recycling efforts countywide.

"It is a 'Catch 22' that as trash disposal goes down due to diversion programs and diligent efforts by the community, we have less money for these programs," Thomas said.