SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): Bruin Waste is moving forward with building a recycling facility in partnership with the city of Grand Junction that would service the Western Slope. The Naturita-based waste disposal service operates in Montrose, Mesa, Garfield, San Miguel, Ouray, San Juan, Dolores, Montezuma, Delta, and Archuleta counties. Locally, Bruin Waste does the majority of recycling in Telluride and Mountain Village. Recycling is done in a “single stream” meaning that all recyclables go into one (truck) bed and are sorted at a facility.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bruin Waste was working with a facility in Montrose where the sorting was human-powered.
“During COVID, it became extremely difficult to staff that, as you can imagine. So we changed gears a little bit and started taking that recycling that we were collecting, packing it up and sending it to a facility in Salt Lake City,” Rob Kendall, Bruin Waste VP of sales and new market development, told the Daily Planet.
Bruin Waste began looking for a solution that was closer to home and met with the city of Grand Junction.
On Dec. 18, Grand Junction City Council voted 6-1 for city staff to negotiate a contract with Bruin Waste to create a regional material recovery facility (MRF). The plan is to construct a 58,450 square foot building on 9.58 acres of land. Costs of construction are estimated at $5.5 million, with equipment costs likely between $8-10 million, according to a Grand Junction city staff report. The city of Grand Junction is also applying for a $5 million Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant to help pay for the project.
The facility will use AI-powered robots and sophisticated machinery to help sort everything.
“This removes a lot of those more dangerous jobs from the process, but also allows us to process and sort a much higher amount of recyclable materials on the Western Slope. So we're really heavily reducing that road time of transferring all those recyclables to be sorted in Salt Lake or Denver,” Kendall said.
By bringing recycling operations closer, Bruin Waste will cut down on carbon emissions.
“It’s a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” Jeff Kendall, Bruin Waste CEO and brother of Rob, told the Daily Planet.
Jeff Kendall also noted that this facility will help Bruin Waste keep up with Colorado’s Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act, which mandates that producers of packaging and paper products fund a statewide recycling system and that people have access to recycling services along with trash at no additional cost.
“For the Western Slope to keep up with the infrastructure investments needed, it's too uneconomical to recycle at scale.”
With the new facility closer to the San Juans, there will be educational opportunities and options for school tours available to learn about the recycling process.
“This facility that we're designing will have an observation room. We’ll be consistently hosting tours from colleges and schools and whoever, to come and see how this works,” Robb Kendall said.
Three companies submitted proposals for a material recovery facility in Grand Junction. A recycling committee consisting of Grand Junction council members Dennis Simpson, Anna Stout and Scott Beilfus selected Bruin Waste’s plan.
“By partnering with Bruin Waste, the City is positioned to deliver an efficient and cost-effective solution that will serve the community and surrounding region for years to come,” read a city staff report to City Council. “The MRF project remains in the planning phase, with many variables to be finalized, but it represents a critical step.”
Bruin Waste’s proposal received local backing as well.
“The Town of Telluride and a lot of the counties around the Western Slope have shown support for the project because they see the value it's going to bring. So we want to get the message out there that this is really a Western Slope project that we want to use to bring all the communities together,” Jeff Kendall said.
Separately, the Town of Telluride began partnering with Bruin Waste Management to bring curbside compost to town. The initiative focuses on local businesses, HOAs and schools, offering a weekly curbside pickup of organic waste on Fridays for Telluride residents.
Members of the program lease a compost bin to collect organic waste, and Bruin will process the food waste at their partner facility, Delta Compost. Food scraps, including fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, coffee grounds, and other biodegradable materials are all accepted.
Although the program is targeted at HOAs, Robb Kendall added that locals can also join together with three or four households in a neighborhood and form their own composting group for the Bruin program.
The Town of Telluride received a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a sub-awardee under San Miguel County. The grant funding will go toward giving rebates to businesses and HOAs that commit to a 12-month contract for curbside compost. Rebates are only available until April 2025.
Courtesy: www.telluridenews.com