craigdailypress.com

Recycling isn't new to Craig. Residents have been recycling for years whether they knew it or not.

Donating clothes into a thrift store, giving inkjet cartridges to a charity or returning cellular phones are all forms of recycling.

But they are not quite the form that Lois Wymore and Jane Hume were looking for when they started the process of having a recycling study done.

The two were recipients of a Craig/Moffat County Economic Development Partnership grant that funded a $1,000 study of local recycling options and potential.

Jeff Devere, with Carne Consulting in Rifle, conducted the study and recommended nearly what is occurring -- a partnership that takes advantage of existing recycling programs in surrounding communities, which was something the Craig City Council decided to do before the study was completed.

Another suggestion Devere made was to form a recycling cooperative.

"A co-op can offer services to help develop local markets and provide resources and options," he said.

He recommended that members of the co-op work to educate the community and provide technical assistance as well as host an annual waste/recycling conference.

For Craig, he suggests similar programs to what exist in Steamboat Springs and Meeker: a hybrid cooperation between a co-op that provides a leadership role and a quasi-governmental drop-off container.

"The volume of collected goods will help offset the cost," Devere said.

He recommends someone take the lead.

"An agency such as a city, county or private foundation puts up a sufficient amount of funding to create a challenge grant," he said. That grant would provide funds and services to a group with a solid plan.

But the Craig City Council was a step ahead.

In October, council members agreed to budget $31,000 to start a recycling program in Craig.

Receptacles will be placed at the water loading station on North Yampa Avenue where cardboard and paper, plastics and aluminum will be collected.

The city is working with Waste Management in Steamboat to collect what is turned in. Until they know the amount of residents' recycling, they won't know exactly what the program will cost the city.

The study didn't estimate the cost of a recycling program. Road and Bridge Department Director Randy Call estimates that each load will cost the city $200, but he cannot guess the number of trips that will be needed.

And that won't be known for some time. It likely will be May before residents have the option to drop off their recyclables at that point.

The wait doesn't matter. The result, Wymore said, is exactly what she and Hume envisioned.

"Our goal was to get people talking about it," she said.

"We wanted to be the champions."

Not only did it get people talking, it kicked off a solid program.

Neither Hume nor Wymore expected the study to put them in the recycling business. Their hope was that the results might put someone else in the business.

"My original idea was to bring a business in that would use trash to make new products," Hume said.

Meeker's recycling program is subsidized by the city and Waste Management handles the program in Steamboat. Both have drop-off points where people can take recyclable good.

City Manager Jim Ferree has not seen the study and could not comment on whether there were any other actions the city could or would take in terms of recycling.

Christina M. Currie can be reached at 824-7031 or by e-mail at ccurrie@craigdailypress.com.