Recycling facilities near Columbia face overcapacity and contamination
COLUMBIA — Columbia residents have turned to nearby recycling facilities since an EF1 tornado destroyed the Material Recovery Facility in April.
This has caused a strain on facilities dealing with overcapacity and contamination, and improper sorting and drop-offs — including non-recyclable items or items that don’t belong in certain facilities — are raising concerns with operators.
Ashland and Jefferson City have recently reported misuse of recycling facilities.
“A lot of the stuff that’s being dumped is not stuff that’s recyclable at those locations, or it’s in containers that aren’t recyclable,” said Elise Buchheit, the district planner for the Mid-Missouri Solid Waste District. “None of the drop off sites in Missouri will accept those blue bags.”
Contamination reduces the quality of recyclables and increases disposal costs.
The city then has to take non-recyclables to the landfill, which adds an extra cost to the city since the transport increases fees from the location.
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An outside firm presented possible solutions for a new materials recovery facility that would bring back recycling to the city.
“People were leaving their trash and contaminating the bins with trash and not recyclables — even when Columbia was having their drop-off sites we were having issues with people not really paying attention to the rules and protocols and procedures,” said Jason West, communications and outreach supervisor for Columbia Utilities.
Columbia city leaders said they acknowledge the inconvenience of not having a recycling program but asked the public to avoid facilities like the Ashland Recycling Center because it is reaching capacity.
Most items being dropped off are not permitted in these facilities, which takes longer to hand sort.
A lot of the drop-offs located in mid-Missouri are operated by Boonslick Industries. Its processing is entirely hand sorted, and operations are halted when the processor receives items that don’t belong in the facility.
“Many city clerks have reached out to me saying they might have to pull the program if they continue to get this illegal dumping,” Bucheit said. “They can’t support the increase cost of hauling.”