Change is on the horizon for residents who recycle in the rural areas of Kootenai County and Rathdrum.

Starting June 30, all recycle sites at 40-plus schools throughout the county, with a few exceptions, will be discontinued and rural collection sites already in place will be the replacement.

While there will be less recycling dropoff sites, a wider variety of materials will be accepted and the items can be co-mingled for a simpler process.

Under the new program, accepted items include newspapers, magazines, junk mail, phone books, flattened cardboard and aluminum cans. Items that won't be accepted include plastic, glass, styrofoam, shredded paper, metal, diapers, needles, batteries and hazardous waste.

"I know some people believe we're taking opportunities to recycle away (with fewer sites), but we're actually providing a better, more convenient program," said Roger Saterfiel, the county's solid waste director.

The lone recycling dropoff in Rathdrum will be at Lakeland High where the bins have been located as opposed to also being at Betty Kiefer and John Brown elementary schools and at Mountain View High School.

"We're hoping that the increase in accepted items will increase recycling in Rathdrum," said Brett Boyer, the city's administrator. "We've tried to maintain a place (Lakeland High) that's centrally located."

The county introduced the recycling program at schools in the early 1990s. Schools have received the money for the recycled items - anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand per year, depending on the school.

"Nobody got rich off of it, but some schools were still able to pay for things such as playground equipment," Saterfiel said.

Tom Taggart, the Lakeland Joint School District's finance director, said the bigger hit with the program at schools going away will be the 50 percent discount in garbage bills that schools received. That discount has ranged from $900 per year at Athol Elementary to $2,700 per year at Coeur d'Alene High, for example.

On the flip side, the discount going away is having schools explore more ways to reduce their waste, which saves them money and landfill space, Saterfiel said.

Saterfiel said the program at schools hasn't been cost efficient for the county, which has picked up the items and maintained the bins. He said the school program has only saved the county $27,000 per year in saved space at the landfill, but has cost between $177,000 and $200,000 for maintenance, fuel and other expenses.

"It got to the point where it wasn't balancing out," Saterfiel said. "My job is to save landfill space, but I also have the obligation to be as prudent with taxpayer money as I can be. We need to make the recycling we offer pay for itself. It barely does right now."

In addition, with curbside single stream recycling introduced in the urban areas of Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene and Hayden in recent years, residents in those areas are taking less items to the school sites. Saterfiel said the county's new rural recycling program is a step toward single stream, but doesn't take in quite as many items.

Along with Lakeland High, the only other school sites that will remain in place are the Canyon school at Rose Lake and Kootenai near Harrison.

"They have no opportunities to recycle in those areas, so we're keeping those," Saterfiel said. "But, once we get recycle bins at the rural Dumpster sites, we'll probably discontinue those as well."

In addition to the three school sites, the rural recycling program includes sites at Mica Flats, Worley, Garwood, Athol and Twin Lakes that have been in place a few months. Saterfiel said those sites have gotten off to a great start.

The Garwood site has been taking in 2,500 pounds of recyclables per week and the Mica Flats site 1,500 pounds.

Saterfiel said taking in plastics under the rural and Rathdrum program hasn't been ruled out for the future, but it doesn't pencil out for the time being.

"Recyling plastic is a noble thing, but it doesn't pay for itself," he said. "We've got to get as heavy a load as we can to pay for fuel to get to the rural sites and labor costs. Plastic weighs too little to be profitable."

Saterfiel said the situation with plastics may change, however, with a material recovery facility opening in Spokane next fall.

Boyer said the Rathdrum City Council has bantered curbside single stream recycling, but has opted to not implement it because residents currently have the choice of having garbage collection or not.

A commercial single stream collection system in the urban areas is being discussed. It's all part of a continually changing recycle world that's a win-win, Saterfiel said.

For more information on the rural and Rathdrum program, call Kootenai County Solid Waste at 446-1430 or the recycling hotline at 446-1433. Waste Management, which handles service for Coeur d'Alene city residents, is at 664-9055. Post Falls Sanitation at 457-1820 serves Post Falls city residents.