Twin Falls considers ending residential recycling program

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The city is negotiating a new contract with PSI Environmental Services for residential trash collection, which the company has operated since 2006.

However, city council is considering eliminating recycling as part of residential services, citing that residents are putting contaminated or non-recyclable items in recycling bins, which means PSI must send entire loads of recycling to the landfill.

The council is currently reviewing four options: two that include recycling and two that don’t.

Chelsea Ross, the city’s utility billing manager, said not enough residents are participating correctly in the recycling program.

“A lot of it has to do with contamination … people will just throw whatever…motor oil… a lot of different liquids in with their recycling. And once they do that PSI has to take all that to the landfill… none of it can be recycled…”

Aside from contamination, the city is also considering the cost of recycling for residents.

“Recycling has always been important… it’s always been an important topic… but when we look at numbers as a city our goal is to make sure our citizens our getting the best bang for their buck and what they’re paying for is worth it,” Ross said.

Jace Melugin, site manager for PSI Environmental Services, said the company has worked with the city for decades.

“Yeah PSI has always worked great with the city we’ve served the city of Twins Falls for a very long time,” Melugin said.

In 2024, PSI took over the processing of residential recycling, which also was partially the reason they expanded their facility in November.

“So we built the recycle center across the street from us because Magic Valley recycling had previously shut down. Kind of left a gap for recycling for the cardboard and plastics and that kind of stuff. It left a gap when they closed and we wanted to bridge that gap because we feel recycling is important for the entire Magic Valley area,” Melugin said.

Decision pending

While no decision has been made yet, the city is now considering its alternatives.

“It is up to them whether they decide to move on with it or not. Recycling has been presented to the council and what they decide to do with that will be decided in the next couple of months,” Ross said.

If the city does decide to end the program, that does not mean the end of recycling options for Twin Falls residents.

“PSI has thrown out that they would offer subscription recycling program for customers that still want to stay within the program…there’s also talk about having a drop off recycling at their facility in the future” said Ross.

The city’s current recycling program with PSI runs through the end of the year.

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