{"id":2451581,"date":"2019-11-25T23:27:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T06:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=316682"},"modified":"2019-11-25T23:27:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T06:27:00","slug":"eagle-county-will-look-into-recycling-situation-at-basalt-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/eagle-county-will-look-into-recycling-situation-at-basalt-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagle County will look into recycling situation at Basalt center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cardboard recycling bins are lined up at a drop-in site at Willits earlier this month. The site is popular for midvalley residents who don’t have curbsite recycling service.<\/strong>
Aspen Times file<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Eagle County officials will investigate whether they should play a role in providing a recycling site in the mid-Roaring Fork Valley, though no promises have been made.<\/p>\n

Eagle County Manager Jeff Shroll said the county commissioners and staff would discuss the issue after Thanksgiving. That will give the staff time to investigate issues surrounding the Basalt recycle center at Willits, he said.<\/p>\n

That popular drop-off center\u2019s future is unclear. Basalt and Pitkin County have provided subsidies<\/a> to Waste Management in recent years to keep the facility open. They contributed $30,000 each this year, according to a recent memo from the town staff to Town Council. But Pitkin County will no longer contribute to the Willits facility in 2020 as part of a broader policy, the memo said.<\/p>\n

Basalt officials decided they cannot cover the entire $60,000<\/a> contribution on their own, so they decided to spend their funds on different environmental initiatives headed by their \u201cGreen Team\u201d of citizen advisers. A Waste Management official said earlier this month that the company hasn\u2019t determined yet what will happen to the facility in 2020. However, the company said in the past the finances only worked if the governments kicked in funds due to the low cost paid for recycled materials.<\/p>\n

A news report of the situation captured the attention of some midvalley residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have received several emails requesting Eagle County get involved,\u201d Shroll wrote in an email to The Aspen Times. He said he would contact the managers of Basalt and Pitkin County to gather background and their thoughts.<\/p>\n

David and Lynne Uhl, residents of unincorporated Eagle County in Missouri Heights, are among constituents lobbying for county intervention. They wrote an email to Shroll and the three county commissioners asking them to support the Willits recycling site or an alternative in the midvalley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe residents of southwestern Eagle County need to be included in Eagle County\u2019s recycling program,\u201d they wrote to the county officials. \u201cThere are seven subsidized recycling drop-off locations in Eagle County (Gypsum, Eagle, Wolcott, Edwards, Avon, Vail and even tiny Red Cliff).\u201d<\/p>\n

The site in Wolcott is the landfill, so there are six drop-off recycling sites \u2014 all located in the Eagle Valley. The towns provide the sites and Eagle County pays to haul recycled materials to its materials recovery center.<\/p>\n

The Uhls said Monday that they met with Eagle County commission Chairwoman Jeanne McQueeney on Friday during open office hours that county officials hold in El Jebel. She was surprised to learn the midvalley might be without a recycling center and seemed genuinely interested in helping, Lynne Uhl said.<\/p>\n

The Uhls said they store up their recyclable items and make a trip to the Willits center about once per two weeks. They feel it is an invaluable service.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, we would just throw everything away,\u201d Lynne Uhl said.<\/p>\n

The waste haulers serving their neighborhood provide curbside recycling, but it would basically double their monthly bill, David Uhl said.<\/p>\n

They believe there is an equity issue involved \u2014 Eagle County government provides multiple recycling stations in the Eagle Valley, so it should help in the Roaring Fork portion of the county, where about 15% of the county population lives.<\/p>\n

Eagle County\u2019s official environmental policy says, \u201cWe are committed to protecting wildlife habitat, protecting clean air and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving water in buildings and landscapes, reducing use of paper, increasing waste diversion and recycling, and incorporating clean renewable energy to support our county operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Uhls desired outcome is for Eagle County to replace Pitkin County in an arrangement with Basalt to help fund the existing center or for Eagle County to provide a recycling site on its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think something is going to happen. It\u2019s just a matter of coordinating,\u201d David Uhl said.<\/p>\n

Basalt Mayor Jacque Whitsitt said she has heard from constituents who don\u2019t want to see the facility closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should talk about that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of those issues where there is a \u201cgreater good\u201d created by Basalt helping fund the facility, she said, and there\u2019s also a question of Basalt \u201cwalking the talk\u201d on environmental issues. She is concerned that doing away with the recycling center will generate more trash for the landfills.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many people will just throw (their recyclables) into the waste stream?\u201d Whitsitt asked.<\/p>\n

The Basalt council has approved the first reading of its budget last week. It does not include funds for a recycling center. There\u2019s the potential for dipping into a contingency fund, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Eagle County steps up, we should, absolutely,\u201d Whitsitt said.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardboard recycling bins are lined up at a drop-in site at Willits earlier this month. The site is popular for midvalley residents who don’t have curbsite recycling service.Aspen Times file Eagle County officials will investigate whether they should play a role in providing a recycling site in the mid-Roaring Fork Valley, though no promises have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 04:47:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}