09/30/2009: "No Trips To Dump On Saturday"

There are going to be some unhappy people this Saturday when they show up at the Orcas & San Juan transfer stations with a truck load of trash and recyclables, only to find the gate locked. Both the Orcas and San Juan transfer stations will be open Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and on Sundays 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

The budget cuts due to loss of revenue from the operation of the transfer stations are being blamed for the need to close the dumps on Saturday.The elimination of Saturday hours is expected to result in a savings of approximately $40,000 per year.

Even more impressive is the switching from customer-sorted recycling to the co-mingled recycling system On Lopez Island: it is projected this alone will save $45,000 per year.

Co-mingling is already the norm on Orcas and San Juan Island. Or, to state it another way, the rest of the county has been supporting the desire of the citizens of Lopez to sort their recycling material, to a county wide loss of $45,000.00 dollars a year, year after year.

At the beginning of September Public Works Director Jon Shannon came before the Council and stated the solid waste transfer stations are not only still losing money, they are in fact “going backwards.”

Shannon said the volume of construction material is one of the major losses of revenue

According to Utility Manager Ed Hale, handling co-mingled recycling is much less labor intensive than the current baling and transportation operation used on Lopez, and is just as effective at reclaiming recyclable materials. In fact, he noted. some types of plastics can be included in co-mingled recycling that cannot be recycled through the current system.

A public information meeting will be held on Lopez Island before co-mingled recycle begins.