Columbia City Council presents options for rebuilding recycling facility
COLUMBIA — Columbia City Council discussed possible options for the Material Recovery Facility at its pre-council meeting Monday. The facility has been closed since April 20 when it was struck by a EF1 tornado.
The city of Columbia hired RRT Design and Construction, a national engineering and construction company, to develop possible solutions for a new recycling facility.
The city of Columbia has been working to address the loss of the recycling facility since the tornado, and the city is picking up recyclables and taking them to the landfill.
At the pre-council meeting, Kate Vasquez presented the options for the city to move forward.
Columbia suspended curbside recycling after an EF1 tornado damaged the facility.
Scenarios A, B, and C include building a new facility. This is estimated to take about 18 months.
Scenario A would build a new material recovery facility at the existing site, trying to salvage as much as the existing structure as possible. This is the cheapest option, estimated to cost about $22 million. However there is a possibility not much can be salvaged.
Scenario B would build a new material recovery facility at the current landfill operations center. The current landfill operations center would have to be rebuilt before a new material recovery facility can be built. This option is estimated to cost around $26.4 million and would be much larger than scenario A.
Scenario C includes a new material recovery facility on an open gravel lot west of the current administration building. This is estimated to cost $26.7 million. This is also the largest of all the scenarios.
Scenario D does not involve rebuilding, rather setting up a system to transport the material to Jefferson City. Columbia would contract with a private company in Jefferson City who would handle the materials. This option would be able to be started much more quickly than other scenarios.
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The final idea, Scenario E, is the creation of a multi-material environmental center. This would be a “one-stop shop” that can collect multiple materials. RRF presented designs of these centers in other cities across the country. There is not yet a proposed location or budget for this option.
Rebuilding seems to be a popular option among those at the meeting.
RRT design recommends the city go with Scenario B because it meets all of the needs of the new MRF and has a safe traffic flow.
“I think either option A, rebuilding the MFR in its current location or a transfer station. I think those are probably our two best options,” said Erin Keys, Columbia’s new Public Utilities Director.
The council also heard a proposal for the introduction of recycling roll carts.
“The other advantage too, if we rebuild, would be this would be a great opportunity to go to automated collection for recycling just like we have for trash,” said Don Waterman, Ward 5 City Councilman.
The city would need to add four additional trucks to accomodate for this which would cost a one time $3,748,000 price.
Other council business
Erin Keys was officially sworn in as the City of Columbia Utilities Director. She will help oversee waste issues, which include the recycling center, and is excited to dive into her role.
“I’m looking forward to hiring some assistant directors to support each of the utilities and myself. We’ve had a lot of big events lately so there’s a lot of day to day work that needs to be done,” said Keys.
The council also approved an agreement with the University if Missouri for an integrated shuttle bus service on campus for the 2025-26 academic year and annual service for faculty/staff parking in remote lots. They also discussed a year-round service for MU Health Care staff in remote parking lots and May to August service for other university employees in remote lots. The city would receive a revenue of $1,173,825 to fund the shuttle service, according to a memo.