Othello City Council looks into recycling

OTHELLO — As eager as some Othello residents — and city council members — are to have a city-wide recycling program, it will be difficult to create a program that will pay for itself.

“This will not pay for itself,” said Mark Wash, the vice president and general manager of Consolidated Disposal Services in Ephrata. “What you take out of the waste stream will not pay for itself.”

Wash, speaking to the Othello City Council Monday evening, said Consolidated’s recycling service will cost around $7,500 per month, while the amount of recycling generated by Othello residents will only generate around $1,800-$1,850 per month, meaning the city would need to charge a fee for recycling.

Even with the inclusion of yard waste, Wash said recycling would still not pay for itself. The city would need to charge for recycling, he said.

“Recycling eliminates pounds sent to the landfill, it must cost less than delivering to the transfer station,” said council member John Lallas.

Wash explained that the Adams County garbage rate of roughly $77 per ton, significantly higher that the Grant County rate of $27.75 per ton, reflects the equipment and manpower needed to run two county transfer facilities to transport that garbage to Waste Management’s landfill near Arlington, Ore.

Any recycling stream would include only paper, plastic, and metal, Wash said.

“Glass breaks, and it contaminates the rest of the (recycling material),” Wash said.

Wash compared Othello to slightly smaller Quincy, where Consolidated Disposal runs a recycling program. He said the trash fees for the town included large recycling bins — trash, single stream recycling, and yard waste — and same sized giant recycling cans regardless of what level of trash service residents sign up for.

“Three cans at every residence,” Wash said. “It can be tight in alleys.”

“This is just something to think about, if the city council wants to move ahead with this,” said Mayor Shawn Logan.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.