{"id":25524,"date":"2024-10-01T18:28:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T00:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/recycling-bins-return-to-mancos\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:19:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:19:42","slug":"recycling-bins-return-to-mancos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/recycling-bins-return-to-mancos\/","title":{"rendered":"Recycling bins return to Mancos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Overflow
Overflow at the recycling bins. (Photo courtesy Four Corners Recycling Initiative)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The recycling bins at the Mancos Schools Maintenance Barn returned on Sunday, Sept. 29, but the return may be short-lived.<\/p>\n

They were taken away in May when the baler started having issues at the Montezuma County Landfill. It was repaired by the end of August, however, and drop-off recycling bins returned to Cortez and Dolores well before they did Mancos.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, of all three towns, the bins in Mancos are the most contaminated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t address the trashing of the bin sites, the replacement won\u2019t be long term \u2026 we can\u2019t continue to fund it at the rate it gets contaminated,\u201d said Casey Simpson, the board president at Four Corners Recycling Initiative, a nonprofit that makes the free recycling bins in Mancos and Dolores possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople regularly put things in the bins that aren\u2019t recyclable,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

The problem with bin contamination comes down to economics.<\/p>\n

When bins are contaminated, it\u2019s a double loss: The landfill charges for it, and the revenue usually awarded for a well recycled bin is withheld. Such revenue pays for hauling the bin, and helps the Initiative, at best, break even, Simpson said.<\/p>\n

Usually, it operates at a loss, though, which is covered by grants. This year, the Four Corners Recycling Initiative got significantly less grant money than years past.<\/p>\n

On June 15 last year, the Initiative received $14,145 from Colorado\u2019s Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity program, which was replaced by Colorado Circular Communities Enterprise (C3) on July 1 this year.<\/p>\n

This year on May 29, it got $4,138.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe $10,000 deficit will be very very difficult to overcome,\u201d Simpson said in an email.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still unclear whether the new C3 Program will offer a rebate funding program for free public drop-off sites, which is what has funded such sites in years past in Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

Thus, having to pay fines for contaminated bins in Mancos isn\u2019t feasible. And to the landfill, which pays workers to sort through the recyclables, it\u2019s not feasible, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mentality is that if it\u2019s plastic, it\u2019s recyclable,\u201d said Mel Jarmon, the Montezuma County landfill manager. \u201cThat\u2019s just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

The landfill only accepts No. 1 and No. 2 plastics. If it\u2019s not one of those, they don\u2019t want it, Jarmon said.<\/p>\n

They even find health hazards like used diapers in the bins, Jarmon said.<\/p>\n

Plus, at the recycling site in Mancos, people regularly overflow the bins or leave recyclables beside them, which blows around the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was counterproductive to recycling,\u201d said Todd Cordrey, superintendent of the Mancos School District RE-6.<\/p>\n

Overflow was one reason they removed the bins, Cordrey said.<\/p>\n

Mostly keeping the bins away came down to contamination, which is so problematic that Jarmon said the landfill might stop accepting recycling from Mancos if it continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople feel good recycling,\u201d said Jarmon. \u201cBut if you\u2019re going to do it, do it right. Or don\u2019t do it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

may be short-lived if contamination continues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78975,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25524\/revisions\/78975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25524"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}