Elmer City nixes recycling idea

The Regional Board of Mayors’ limited recycling project never made it out of the chutes before it was shot down by Elmer City’s town council.

The RBOM had proposed the purchase of a 30 cubic yard, $13,000 recycling bin. The four mayors were to take the proposal to their councils.

The first to try to do so was Mayor Gail Morin, who explained to her council that Elmer City’s prorated share of the bin’s cost was $780.

The council said “no.”

The proposal had Sunrise Disposal hauling recyclables to Okanogan’s recycling place for a charge of $74 an hour, with an hour and a half turn-around time.

Elmer City council members stated that the Colville Tribal recycling facility was just up the road, and its citizens could put their recycling items in bins there.

Morin stated that Grand Coulee had proposed that it could find a place to put the bin in its city.

But Elmer City council members maintained that its residents were not likely to drive to Grand Coulee to deposit recyclables.

The mayors, in their September meeting, had gone so far as agreeing to put the $13,000 bin in its 2016 budget, of course with the provision that all four municipalities agree.

The RBOM had discussed recycling off and on for over a year, and it appeared that something was finally going to happen.

The recycling project will not produce a revenue flow for the mayors, but would satisfy an interest in the area to separate some recyclable items and prevent them from ending up in the county landfill in Ephrata.