Thanks to the Town of Patagonia, the community will be receiving a holiday gift that many residents have been wanting for several years: the return of a drop-off recycling service that actually works.
According to Town Manager Ron Robinson, the new service will be broad-based and will begin on a one-day-a-week basis. The recycling facility will be staffed by town personnel and volunteers.
The recycling facility will feature two 20-ton roll-off containers located in a fenced area behind the post office. One container will be exclusively for cardboard, the other for all other recyclable items including glass, paper, plastic and metal cans. The Town has signed an agreement with Republic Services, the second largest recycling company in the nation and operator of the materials recovery facility in Tucson where the materials collected in Patagonia will go to be sorted, processed and purchased by companies that use them in manufacturing new products.
Republic is scheduled to deliver the roll-offs on December 15 and the facility will open officially on December 21. On a trial basis, recyclables will be accepted from 8:30-11:30am every Thursday. Additional and/or different days and times may be scheduled as demand warrants and as funding is available to support the expanded service. Town personnel will also pick up cardboard from businesses operating within the town limits.
The costs of the operation will be offset largely by savings realized by lower landfill tipping fees that will result from the removal of recyclables from the trash stream. However, voluntary donations will also be accepted at the facility. Robinson noted that donations received during the monthly recycling events sponsored by the Patagonia Recycling Task Force in prior years were used to pay for the fence. New donations, he said, will be used to pay expenses not covered by tipping fee savings.
The Recycling Task Force, dormant for the past year, is now actively working with the Town to support the new effort. The group will assist in recruiting and training volunteers and helping recyclers to properly use the facility. At each open session, volunteers will work with a Town employee to receive the recyclables, explain what materials are accepted and how to properly prepare them. This will ensure that the total load of materials in each roll off will stay well below the limit of 20% contamination, the point at which Republic Services would send the entire load to the landfill instead of processing it for recycling.
Task Force chair Bob Brandt praised Mayor Andrea Wood for recognizing recycling as an essential service to be provided by the Town and Robinson for implementing a plan that will serve not only town residents but the larger community as well.
A training session for volunteers is set for 1pm on Thursday, December 7 in the town council chambers. Anyone interested in volunteering may contact Brandt at brantownb@gmail.com or call the Town office (520) 394-2229.