KALISPELL – Valley Recycling in Kalispell is trying its best to prevent Montana landfills from rapidly expanding.
Operating Manager Mike Smith told MTN News that a pilot plastic bottle recycling program has started at Valley Recycling.
He says plastic recycling stopped a few years back due to lack of public interest, but now the plant is ready to try plastic recycling again and asks for the community’s help.
Located off of US Highway 2 West in Kalispell, the pilot program only takes cleaned out plastics that are in the 1 or 2 categories — typically soda, water bottles and milk jugs.
The type of recycling is usually located on the bottom of the bottle or under the cap.
Smith says that if people recycle the wrong or dirty plastics, Flathead Valley Recycling has to dump that into the county landfill.
“Every little bit that we keep out of the landfill means that they won’t have to expand that much sooner. They just did an expansion a few years ago, so we’re safe for a while, but every little bit of waste that goes in the landfill, fills it up that much faster,” Smith said.
Flathead County Recycling will evaluate this plastic recycling pilot program for the next three to six months. If it proves to be successful then the program will continue.
Smith says this program is open to anyone in Montana who wants to use it.
