Whitefish recycling consolidated at single site

Whitefish will soon have one centralized spot where residents can drop off their recyclables.

It’s a move the city and its solid waste contractor North Valley Refuse hope will create a more streamlined system with enough capacity to handle the influx of materials that get left at the city’s recycling sites on the weekends.

City Council Oct. 19 unanimously approved the plan that will eventually phase out the city’s three current satellite recycling sites. The new consolidated site will be at the city’s snow lot near the corner of Columbia Avenue and Railway Street.

“We think this is going to be the best option for centralized recycling for the city,” Public Works Director Craig Workman said.

The three current recycling sites in the city are located at the parking lot south of the Craggy Range, on Kalispell Avenue behind National Parks Realty and at the City Beach boat trailer parking lot. Those sites have been known to overflow on the weekends and a fourth site was removed from Alpine Village Market last summer after complaints about illegal dumping and litter from the container.

Roger Bridgeford, NVR general manager, said the three current sites are dumped late on Friday and early on Monday morning, but that is still not enough to keep up with the needs on the weekend.

“We want to cater around the community needs,” he said. “The new site should solve all of the overflow problems from the weekend.”

The site will have three large containers. One container for mixed paper products, newspaper and cardboard, and the second for plastics and aluminum. A third would be for corrugated cardboard recycling.

Bridgeford said a corrugated cardboard container isn’t currently at the other sites, but because of the proximity to downtown he wanted to offer that option for businesses that may want to use it.

The consolidated site will have a capacity for 60 cubic yards of recyclable material. The current satellite sites have a combined capacity of six cubic yards.

Council asked to add a container for non-recyclable trash. Bridgeford said he would be willing to try adding a garbage bin provided that the site doesn’t become overfull.

The cost to the city to develop the site is $5,000. Development of the site will begin this fall with the site being excavated, graded and finished with crushed asphalt millings, and fencing installed.

Assuming the site is successful, final improvements with paving, permanent fencing and landscaping will take place in the spring.