June 11, 2009

 

Wal-Mart kicks off plastic recycling program

By RICHARD ECKE
Tribune Staff Writer

Area residents can once again recycle plastic containers in Great Falls — beginning this afternoon — after a nearly three-month hiatus.

Bins to accept plastic will be placed in the southeast corner of the Wal-Mart parking lot, at Smelter Avenue and 8th Street N.E., from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays.

The first day of the new program is today. An attendant will be on the scene at times to help. On days plastic is not collected, the recycling bins will not be in place.

At a news conference Wednesday, Lance Lerud, manager of the Great Falls Wal-Mart store, said he did not know if this is the country's first Wal-Mart to take on the job of community plastics recycling.

However, Lerud said the nation's largest retailer is making an effort to go green.

"Just about anything we can recycle, we do," Lerud said.

But the store went a step further by offering to recycle certain plastic items for anyone who stops by with rinsed-out containers of plastic types 1 and 2, without the caps on.

"I hope that we've got the elements in place to handle it," Lerud said. "It's a great program."

He said the store hired an employee to handle the plastics effort, as well as the recycling of other materials.

"If we have to hire more, we'll do that," he added.

Mayor Dona Stebbins said the plan was hatched after Lerud spotted Stebbins in the store and offered to take over plastics recycling.

"I'm really glad they're doing it, because I was feeling guilty throwing our plastic away," said City Commission candidate Kathleen Gessaman.

City Public Works Director Jim Rearden said recycling in Great Falls is at a crossroads.

Rearden said his office has been making the rounds of neighborhood council meetings, suggesting the city enact a $1.50 monthly fee for recycling that would be included in water bills. Rearden said the issue could go before the City Commission as quickly as July.

The response from neighborhood council members has been excellent, he said.

Assistance from a company such as Wal-Mart might enable the city to slightly moderate the monthly fee, Rearden said, noting that that recycling was a money-losing proposition for the city.

Rearden said the city will provide bins to help Wal-Mart collect plastic. Otherwise, Stebbins said, "basically, Wal-Mart's carrying the water on this one."

A private recycler, Big Sky Pipe & Supply, stopped taking plastics in Great Falls in March, said owner Ed Stahler, who attended Wednesday's ceremony.

"Back in October, the prices dropped so much you couldn't even pay the freight," Stahler said. He said prices recyclable plastic plunged about 30-fold, although they are slowly rising again. Big Sky Pipe recycled about 1,000 cubic feet of plastic per week, Stahler estimated.