I heard that recycling just goes to the landfill. Does it?
No. We contract with Four Corners Recycling to collect the items in the recycling bins, process them, and sell them to the market.  Occasionally , there is too much contamination in a bin and items will be taken to the landfill.  Please read the bin labels and place only the listed items in each bin – to reduce costs and avoid having recyclable items thrown away.

What happens to the e-waste you collect?
We send it to a company called 406 Recycling in Helena, Montana.

Why don’t you collect glass for recycling?
Glass is very heavy and prohibitively expensive to ship to the nearest recycler in Utah. Silica, the main ingredient in glass, is one of the most abundant materials on Earth which makes it cheaper to simply make new glass.

Why do I have to pay to drop off my clean wood waste?
GSWMD rents a high capacity grinder to mix the wood waste into the compost. Rental costs, fuel, and labor are covered by disposal fees.

Are you making money with the recyclables I give you for free? Why don’t you pay us for them?
We receive a small return on the commodities sold for recycling, but the costs for hauling and processing far outweigh the return.

Why don’t you accept plastics #3 through #7 for recycling?
The market for plastics marked with a #3,4,5,6, or #7 is nonexistent. Even if we wanted to send them off for recycling, there is no company interested in taking them. Rather than paying to ship these materials hundreds of miles to a sorting facility that will only send them to another landfill, we feel it is more responsible environmentally and economically to dispose of them locally.

You said I can’t recycle a plastic container, even though it says #1 on it. Why not?
Not all plastic items with a #1 or #2 on them are recyclable in our area.  Currently, recyclers are only accepting #1 and #2 bottles and jugs.  Clamshell containers (think of berry containers or pre-mixed salad containers) contain different resins and can affect the integrity of recycled plastic if mixed with the bottles and jugs.  They also cause issues at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) by jamming the machines and contaminating loads which could jeopardize the entire load.