Riverton examines eliminating recycling program

Posted 11/12/19

RIVERTON (WNE) — City leaders want to know exactly how much money Riverton spends on its recycling program.

The question came up after city staff estimated that eliminating the program …

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Riverton examines eliminating recycling program

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RIVERTON (WNE) — City leaders want to know exactly how much money Riverton spends on its recycling program.

The question came up after city staff estimated that eliminating the program locally could result in a savings of about $155,000 per year.

“At this point it does cost us money,” city administrator Tony Tolstedt said of the recycling program during an Oct. 1 meeting. “Over the last two years, the city’s operational cost of recycling has outweighed the savings provided from diverting the materials from the main waste stream.”

If the council wanted to consider “doing away with the service,” Tolstedt said he would want to “delve into that a lot more” and do “a couple more calculations,” but he was confident the result would “still be a savings.”

The council voted unanimously to have Tolstedt “further investigate the specific costs” of the recycling program, per a motion by Councilman Mike Bailey.

During the discussion Bailey said that “recycling is a great thing,” but he did not think it was “economically feasible” for the city to continue losing money on the program. There’s been less participation in recent years due to the removal of large recycling containers that used to be posted at central locations in Riverton.

A memo from Tolstedt noted that the containers were removed “due to an inability to separate the contents appropriately.”

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