City to close Whitefish’s central recycling site

The City of Whitefish plans to permanently shut down its central recycling site at the end of the month.

Future plans for the central recycling site on the corner of Columbia Avenue and Railway Street have long been discussed by City Council and in a recent meeting councilors agreed it was time to close the site for good. It will close on Jan. 31 and Whitefish will no longer have a recycling drop-off site.

“I think it’s time we take this site offline,” Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld told council. “I think it’s grossly unsightly and it's not fair to the neighbors at this point. I can’t imagine how much of those recycling bins are contaminated and just going to the landfill anyway.”

This comes after a decision last month by Council that Whitefish will begin implementing a mandatory curbside recycling program in the spring of 2022, and therefore doing away with the centralized recycling site. On Jan. 3 Council voted to close the central site at the end of the month rather than keep it open until the curbside program begins.

The central site located on the snow lot, aptly named because the city also piles snow there in the winter, was opened in 2015 as a temporary location to consolidate three existing neighborhood recycling sites. Now the snow lot is being repurposed for affordable housing and the city needed a solution for recycling services.

Over the last few years, the city has been exploring options whether to relocate the central site or move to a curbside program.

In June 2020 it was decided that the city would designate the snow lot for the use of constructing affordable workforce housing and it transferred ownership of the 1.64 acre property to the Whitefish Housing Authority.

In early 2021 the city had plans to potentially build a new central recycling site on Monegan Road and began seeking a contractor that could manage the site. Also at that time though, the city considered an alternative option and began seeking bids for contractors who could provide residential curbside recycling services.

After examining options during several meetings and public hearings, Council approved moving to a curbside program last May and it was put into an ordinance in December.

A release from the city says that other options for future recycling services will continue to be evaluated by council, but at this time the cost to continue operating the existing recycling site exceed the benefits during the final months the city has access to the property.

“The existing site has been plagued by contamination and overuse, and the proposed fees to continue the operation of the facility are not cost effective,” Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman said in a release. “I believe permanent closure of the current site is in the best interest of the city as we continue to pursue the best option to provide recycling services to our residents and business owners.”

Republic Services, also the contractor for the city garbage service and the new curbside recycling, agreed to keep the central site operating at no extra cost to the city until the curbside program was established. The original rollout of the curbside program was estimated to be in the fall of 2021. With the process taking longer than anticipated, the company requested the city begin paying for services at the central site.

The cost to continue services at the central site was estimated at $8,000 to $10,000 a month. If the city continued the central site until May 15, the last day the city could still operate the recycling site on the snow lot, it would cost the city about $50,000 in cash reserves according to the staff report. By closing the site on Jan. 31, the city will pay about $18,000 for recycling service at the site for the months of December and January.

The city says recycling services will remain available to those interested through private vendors and county-operated drop-off sites located throughout the valley. For a full listing of recycling options visit https://www.wastenotproject.org. For more information about the recycling site email Public Works, publicworks@cityofwhitefish.org