Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau?bsaxton@standard.net?

LAYTON — The construction of a $1.1 million Recycle Drop-Off Center by Wasatch Integrated Waste will extend the life of the 57-year-old Davis landfill, save energy and reduce its overall carbon footprint. The center is expected to divert annually “several thousand tons” of waste from being buried in the landfill that may otherwise be recycled, district executive director Nathan Rich said.?The Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the center at 3 p.m. Wednesday at ?1997 E. 3500 North.?The district was established in 1984 and operates the landfill and waste incinerator in Layton, handling garbage services for Davis and Morgan counties.?”We wanted the groundbreaking to make people aware this is coming,” Rich said.?The center, to be built on district-owned land west of the landfill, will be paid for using capital improvement funds that have been budgeted, Rich said. There will be no rate increase of any kind, he said.?The center is scheduled to be operational by April 15, weather and asphalt availability permitting.?The project replaces the recyclable drop-off bins currently on site, with the center to accept cardboard, paper, steel, aluminum, plastic and glass.?”What we want to do is provide a quality recycling opportunity for residents and businesses that are interested in recycling. We’re going to give you a good place to come to do your recycling,” Rich said.?The drop-off bins for recyclable materials currently being used are “incredibly inefficient,” said Rich, adding that what is thrown into the bins is comingled and has to be hauled to Salt Lake City to be separated at a cost to the district of $175 per bin.?”One of the hardest parts of recycling is sorting out the materials,” Rich said.?The new drop-off center will make that process more efficient by producing bales of clean recyclable materials the district can sell to generate some revenue, Rich said.?However, board members do not anticipate the drop-off center, which will hire two additional district workers, to be an immediate revenue generator.?When the center begins pushing 1,500 tons of material through it on a yearly basis, Rich said, it will generate enough material sales to pay for its labor, capital and operation cost. ?The facility is being designed to handle up to 4,000 tons of recyclable materials annually.?The recycling bin program now in place at the landfill generates about 1,000 tons of recyclable waste a year, Rich said. He said it will be about two or three years before the district could achieve the 1,500 ton figure.The hope is that operating the recycling center, over time, will become “revenue neutral” for the district, said district board Chairman John Petroff Jr.?”The return of the investment is there once we start marketing these recyclables,” he said.?But the project is not an attempt to interfere with what Davis cities or private industry are already doing, Petroff said.?Bountiful, Centerville, Woods Cross, Farmington and North Salt Lake offer, or are in the process of implementing, curbside recycling programs. Fruit Heights offers curbside green waste recycling.?A lot of commercial waste comes into the landfill that has not been separated as part of a curbside recycling program, Petroff said.?The landfill sees a lot of traffic, with as many as 1,700 transactions on a busy Saturday, officials said.?Petroff said having the drop-off center will allow the district to take advantage of the people and commercial businesses already coming to the landfill.?The district’s drop-off site will be a prototype, Petroff said, in determining whether indoor satellite recycling centers in other locations of the county are needed.?”(We) want to see how it works for awhile,” Petroff said. “We’re trying to go green responsibly. We want to be as green as we can without making it cost prohibitive.”?”People like coming into a clean place that has good services,” Rich said.?”It is part of that: ‘If you build it, and you build it right, they are going to come,'” he said of the center modeled after a similar project in Canada.?Nicholas Naylor, of Salt Lake City, is the architect of the drop-off center, while the construction contract has been awarded to Wadman Corporation of Ogden.

Nov. 4