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Local residents will either need to stockpile recyclable materials at their own homes or throw them in the trash over the coming days, as Powell Valley Recycling has temporarily shut down in response …
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Local residents will either need to stockpile recyclable materials at their own homes or throw them in the trash over the coming days, as Powell Valley Recycling has temporarily shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Powell Valley Recycling provides a valuable service to our community. However, the Board of Directors at Powell Valley Recycling has opted to temporarily close its doors after the Park County Health Officer asked that all nonessential businesses shut their doors,” said board president Marynell Oechsner.
Oechsner said the decision was made “for the safety of our valuable employees, most of whom are over 60 years old and are in the age group with a higher risk of contracting COVID-19.”
She noted that the center’s employees generally handle and sort recyclables by hand — and that the new coronavirus can survive for roughly a day on cardboard and for two to three days on plastic and steel.
“While the risk of contracting the virus from handling recycled materials is unknown, the Board at Powell Valley Recycling does not feel it is worth the risk of infecting our older employees by coming into work and handling recyclable materials at this time,” Oechsner said. The employees are continuing to be paid during the closure. In the meantime, Oechsner said, the nonprofit organization is continuing to recycle some shredded paper and is shipping some of the “many” bales of cardboard already at the facility.
She said the center will reopen as soon as the risk to employees has passed — and that the organization is looking forward to accepting recyclable materials again in the future.
“The closure is temporary and we hope that people will resume recycling with us as soon as we reopen,” Oechsner said. “If they have room to store it, we will take it sometime in the future.”
The City of Powell is continuing to collect cardboard from the bins it provides to commercial businesses, but residents cannot use those bins, said Sanitation Superintendent Darrell Rood. If residents chose to trash their cardboard boxes, Rood asks folks to break them down before putting them in a city dumpster.
