A workshop about how to move forward with Flathead County’s recycling program yielded good discussion Tuesday but no clear consensus yet about what level of service to continue.

The county commissioners met with members of the Solid Waste District Board to talk about the future of the county’s recycling program because the county’s five-year contract with Valley Recycling ended in January for the blue recycling bins at green-box collection sites and other locations at businesses and schools.

Since then the county has been using Valley Recycling on a month-to-month basis until county leaders decide what to do about a proposed new recycling contract that would nearly triple the county’s cost for recycling services. Valley Recycling is the only company that responded when the county put out a request for proposals.

Since 1998 the county has lost about $403,000 on recycling.

There was clear direction from the commissioners, however, about whether or not to consider a $2 increase to the current $80.73 solid waste tax each property owner pays. None of the three commissioners supports a tax increase, though some Solid Waste District board members see it as a viable option.

“People ask me why we can’t increase the assessment; why the reluctance for that increase when we’ve had other justifiable rate increases,” board member Alan Ruby said.

“We haven’t had enough information to determine if it’s justifiable,” Commissioner Cal Scott said.

Solid Waste District board member Wayne Miller said initially he favored the $2 tax increase, but now has changed his mind because the solution for future recycling needs to consider the complete waste-management process.

“Two dollars is the simple fix that doesn’t solve the problem,” Miller said. “It’s the easy way out.”

There seemed to be an underlying consensus for the county to continue its recycling program in some capacity. That could mean paring down the number of blue-box sites to a bare-bones structure that would include only the landfill plus Somers, Creston and Columbia Falls green-box collection sites.

Blue bins currently are located at the green-box sites in Lakeside, Somers, Creston, Coram, Columbia Falls, Bigfork and Ashley Lake plus at the landfill, Albertsons, Super 1 Foods in Kalispell, Army-Navy in Evergreen, Glacier and Flathead high schools and Kalispell Middle School.

The two high schools have asked to have their blue bins removed for the coming school year because they’re setting up their own recycling program that incorporates special education students.

There was discussion about whether or not the county could negotiate a shorter contract, perhaps for one year, with Valley Recycling to give county officials time to look at a variety of options that could include installing cardboard compactors and staffing more green-box sites.

The Columbia Falls green-box site currently is the only staffed site and the only one with a cardboard compactor.

County Public Works Director Dave Prunty said the next step is to check with the County Attorney’s Office about how to handle Valley Recycling’s proposed contract for three-, five- and seven-year options and whether the current contract could somehow be extended.

Valley Recycling District Manager Josh Brown said the company is willing to work with the county and Solid Waste District, but he added: “We’ve priced it as low as we can go.”

Given the distance to markets and the cost of transportation from a rural area such as Northwest Montana, providing county residents with recycling services likely will continue to cost the county money to retain the program. How much money depends on how many blue bins there are.

Several members in the audience encouraged the commissioners to retain recycling at some level.

“It’s very important we don’t throw everything in the landfill,” Roxanna Brothers said.

Mayre Flowers with Citizens for a Better Flathead presented a wealth of information about recycling strategies in other Montana cities and elsewhere.

“Collectively these studies are bullish about the future of recycling in the state and region,” Flower said, noting that Butte is approaching recycling as an opportunity for job creation and economic development.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.