City residents asked to weigh in on recycling

January 26, 2012

After a two month free trial offered by Frederickson's Bonners Ferry Garbage, and a city-funded extension until February 10, the City of Bonners Ferry wants to know if city residents are willing to pay increased fees for easier recycling, or retain current garbage disposal fees and leave it up to the individual as to whether solid waste is recycled or merely hauled to the county landfill. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, the city council will hold a fee increase hearing in the Bonners Ferry Visitor's Center to consider between two fee increases to make it easier for city residents to recycle or whether to maintain the status quo. Recycling now is easier than ever for the disposers of trash, but for the local gatherer, be it Frederickson's or the county landfill, it's an expense ... but one crucial to the community under federal landfill regulations. In the mid-1990s, Boundary County Commissioners, led by former commissioner Orrin Everhart, were able to obtain a rare Subtitle D exemption to the federal mandates, enabling the Boundary County landfill to stay open provided it met and continued to meet a range of requirements; water monitoring wells were drilled and monitoring systems put in place to ensure that the landfill wasn't degrading local sub-surface water quality and daily load limits were established. Surpass those, and the exemption goes away. If the people of Boundary County want to keep the local landfill open and avoid the county-wide cost of closing the landfill, which would cost millions, and postpone the need of shipping of the county's garbage to federally approved transfer points and landfills many miles and even states away, at significantly greater expense, they are going to have to reach a little deeper into their pockets, and a little deeper into their trash. According to the current crop of Boundary County Commissioners, the two people who've supervised the Solid Waste department since those federal laws were enacted should be hailed as heroes by everyone in Boundary County who needs to get rid of trash. The late Woody Watts began the transition of the landfill from the "dump and bury" days of old, and established policies (and raised fees) that some thought draconian, to a more streamlined system under which part of the detrious of society went into the recycle stream rather than the waste stream. While many have never heard of him, Woody's successor, Claine Skeen, has become a nationally-known expert in small community solid waste disposal, quietly but diligently enacting changes at the landfill ... the introduction of separate piles for raw wood, processed wood, metal, appliances, electronics and more ... that most who haul there don't seem to mind ... it's kind of fun driving around to the different piles and putting our trash in it's proper place. Instead of a hole in the ground, those who dispose of routine household trash now back up to and toss their trash in bins ... which is then "refined," the wheat separated from the chaff, largely now by people doing community service rather than face time in jail. Very little that goes into those various piles goes into the ground; the majority of it, thanks to Skeen's effort, piles up until it becomes worthwhile for those who can use it to come and get it. As a result, the citizens of Boundary County residents can still most often take their trash to the dump without paying a fee ... a rarity. A sizeable part of that trash is generated by those who live in Bonners Ferry, and who pay a monthly fee to for the convenience of having Frederickson's come by once a week and take the garbage away. Until this test that began two months ago, everything went into the back of the truck, got crushed, and went into a hole at the landfill. The City of Bonners Ferry wants to know if its citizens would be willing to pay Fredickson's a bit more a year to sort out the trash ... an extra $1.50 a moth to retain the two test sites at the Bonners Ferry Middle School and the Panhandle Health parking lot, or if, for a mere $4.50 more per month, or if the citizens of the city would like to adopt a curbside recycling program ... under which Frederickson's would pick up twice a month, a variety of recyclables from the many places the now pick up unsorted trash. Prior to the March 6 meeting, every city resident will be getting a questionnaire tucked in with their electricity bill. It asks four yes/no questions:      1. Did you recycle before the city placed to two recycling stations in town:      2. Have the recycling stations increased the recycling of your household?      3. Would you support a $1.50 increase in garbage fees to continue the two recycling stations?      4. Would you support a $4.50 increase in garbage rates for a bi-weekly curbside recycling pick up? The form also allows personal comments, and Mayor Dave Anderson, who said he enjoys the convenience of the city recycling centers, asks that city residents make their views known, and not toss the insterion into the garbage can. No matter how you vote, if you are going to throw it away ... at least, please, keep it out of your household garbage and toss it into the appropriate recycling bin nearest you. The costs you might save everyone in the county could be your own.