BLAINE COUNTY RECYCLING CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2007
Materials Recycled An extensive reconstruction of the Blaine County Recycling Center resulted in the loss of 6 months of operation of that facility. Despite the shut down of recycling center operation, 1,692 tons of materials were recycled last year. This is a reduction of only 377 tons from the prior year. Nearly 680 tons of cardboard, newsprint, aluminum/tin cans, and plastic were hauled out by Southern Idaho Solid Waste to recycling facilities in Twin Falls during the construction period. The following chart identifies the newsprint cardboard, metal cans, glass, mixed residential paper, and plastic bottles either processed at the recycling center or transported directly to a Twin Falls processing facility. TABLE 1 COMMODITIES PROCESSED Tons per Month Month Oct. 06 Nov. Dec. Jan. 07 Feb. March April May June July August Sept. Total
Card Board 58.4 54.5 33.3 33.7 41.4 49.1 44.2 42.9 71.5 98.4 104.8 70.5 702.7 tons
News Print 26.2 23.5 20.9 10.7 19.3 20.3 41.4 23.1 18.0 25.1 27.0 21.8 277.3 tons
Aluminum Cans 1.8 1.3 0.6 1.4 0.8 1.6 1.9 1.5 0.1 0.4 2.1 1.2 14.7 tons
Glass
Tin
42.4 34.5 50.1 44.1 41.9 33.9 42.8 36.2 39.8 72.6 38.6 476.9 tons
1.7 1.8 1.6 2.3 1.2 1.0 1.8 1.3 1.1 2.7 1.6 18.1 tons
Mixed Paper 5.6 4.5 1.7 5.6 6.3 4.5 28.2 tons
Magazine s 25.9 29.1 14.9 6.0 26.0 27.1 23.5 152.5 tons
Plastic 2.5 1.9 1.0 0.9 1.1 1.2 1.4 4.4 4.3 3.3 22.0 tons
Due to the shut down caused by reconstruction activities, it is not possible to complete the detailed and comparative analyses customarily found in this report. We are able to make a comparison of a three month period (July, August, and September) when the recycling center was in full operation and measure that volume of recyclable material with the same three month period in the prior year. The volume of materials processed in the three month period of 2007 (606.5 tons) is approximately 10% higher than the volumes of the same period in 2006 (551.1 tons). While this comparative period is only a partial year of data, the 10% increase in recycling volume is encouraging. Comparing Operation Costs and Revenues The inkind donation (valued at $14,780) of transportation services of the higher value materials to the processing centers in Twin Falls allowed for the continuation of program revenues during the reconstruction period. The revenues provided from marketing the materials transported by Southern Idaho Solid Waste, coupled with the revenues derived from the operations three month prior to and following the reconstruction, helped to minimize the deficit between operating revenues and expenses. Table 4 provides a perspective of annual revenues and expenses over the past four years of the Blaine County Recycling Center operation. TABLE 4 ANNUAL REVENUES vs EXPENSES
Revenues Expenses Net
200304 $124,207.79 $127,895.72 ($ 3,687.93)
200405 $122,359.92 $142,507.74 ($ 20,147.82)
200506 $102,638.89 $129,204.41 ($26,565.52)
200607 $101,008.36 $128,003.97 ($27,025.61)
Community service labor is essential to the operation of the Recycling Center. 176 hours of community service were utilized this past year during the six months of operation. The value of this labor resource is estimated to be $4,400. Other Recycling Activities Southern Idaho Solid Waste operates a household hazardous waste (HHW) program. The scope of the HHW program is designed to remove used motor oil, paints, solvents, lead acid and alkaline/rechargeable batteries, antifreeze, and flammable liquids from the solid waste stream. The materials collected in this HHW program are managed separately to minimize air, surface water and ground water pollution. Since the HHW program in Blaine County is operated out of the recycling center, this and subsequent annual reports will contain program data.
This past year saw freon and CFC gas extracted from 384 refrigeration units. Further, 1,275 gallons of used motor oil, 449 gallons of flammable liquids, 39 gallons of antifreeze, 125 leadacid batteries, 410 lbs of alkaline/rechargeable batteries, and 141 gallons of paint were collected in the Ohio Gulch HHW program. Southern Idaho Solid Waste is in the process of implementing a permanent and ongoing recycling program for computer and computer peripherals across all seven counties comprising the solid waste district. This program will be fully operational in November, 2007. Blaine County computer recycling statistics will be included in next year’s annual report.