Rogers opens new $2 million recycling center Monday

** This City of Rogers press release was not edited by Ozarks Unbound **

News Release

Recycling Program Gets New Digs in Rogers.

The Rogers Community Recycle Center will open its new $2 million facility on Monday, August 3, at 8 a.m., continuing a 30-year tradition of community recycling in Rogers. It’s a new and improved tradition with the change allowing the Recycle Center to not only operate more efficiently and safely, but also take on Styrofoam and more types of recyclable plastics.

The new Recycle Center will open at 2300 N. Arkansas Street, at the intersection of Stave Mill Road and Arkansas Street, while the longtime facility at 315 W. Olive will close Sunday afternoon.

“This facility is a dream come true because it enhances our ability to divert product from the landfill, put product back into production for other purposes, and hopefully make some money off of it eventually,” Mayor Steve Womack said this week while touring the soon-to-open facility.

“At the end of the day it’s all about preserving the life of the Tontitown landfill,” Womack said. “Each item that we recycle is one less item added to the volume of that landfill.”

Dave Hadsell, manager/superintendent for the Rogers Community Recycle Center, is also excited about what the new facility will mean in reducing landfilled waste.

“Everything that is recycled is more that doesn’t end up in the landfill,” Hadsell said. “A lot of people don’t know that we only have 22 landfills left in the state. Nationally, there are less than 1,800 landfills. They’re running out of room.”

The landfill savings isn’t just about waste generated in Rogers. The Rogers Community Recycle Center is open and available for anyone who wants to bring in recycling. Hadsell noted that the center will also actually pick up recyclables at Rogers businesses. In fact, he said, his crews started taking in Styrofoam months ago, noting that there is enough Styrofoam collected already to fill a gymnasium.

“When we ship it out, depending on the quality, it will be landfilled in its compacted state or it will be sold,” Hadsell said.

A big chunk of the Styrofoam the Recycle Center expects to process in coming months is from Beaver Lake. Hadsell said the Corps of Engineers has mandated that all exposed Styrofoam must be removed from the lake by 2013. That includes Styrofoam from the bottom of boat docks.

David Hook, facilities development manager, said Styrofoam will be compacted 50 to 1 at the new facility.

Hook, who helped design the new facility while working for Resource Design of Rogers, is excited about what the changes will mean for those using the Recycle Center and for the workers processing the materials.

“The facility was designed with safety and efficiency in mind. The circulation path for the public is separate from the circulation path of the employees/equipment allowing for a safer environment for all,” Hook said. “The interior layout of the processing area along with the new equipment will allow for much more efficient processing of the recycled material, allowing us to produce more with the same number of employees.”

The new Rogers Recycling Center will offer the 24-7 drive-through recycling drop-off option, but also continue to offer assisted recycling 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Hadsell said his crews have been working this week at the new facility trying to get familiar with the machinery and how the process will work. The center is going from 10 machines to three much larger more efficient machines, including a new large bailer and a much larger glass crusher. And, he said, the new drive-through drop-off area is at least three times the size of the drop-off area at the Olive Street facility.

The Community Recycle Center started in 1979 as a totally volunteer-operated facility. The city of Rogers eventually began providing some staffing and then in 2005 took over operations, making it a city department. Hadsell said the center now has four employees and continues to use volunteers and workers sentenced to community service by the Rogers District Court to supplement the staffing.

An official grand opening for the new Recycling Center is expected to be scheduled in September.

Recyclables

The new Rogers Community Recycle Center will take the following items:

• No. 1 through No. 7 recyclable plastics

• aluminum and tin cans

• aluminum scrap

• cardboard

• chipboard

• glass-clear

• glass-colored

• newspapers

• magazines

• office paper

• phone books

• plastic bags

• shredded paper

• Styrofoam

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