Powell’s recycling center remained closed this week as leaders of the operation continue searching for a new insurance carrier.

“They’re frantically trying to come up with something,” said Powell City Councilman Zane Logan, who serves as the city’s liaison to the Powell Valley Recycling board.

The organization’s longtime insurer, Nationwide, informed the organization in June that it would no longer provide coverage. Board President Marynell Oechsner said they immediately began searching for a replacement, but they couldn’t find a new carrier by the time the policy expired. That prompted the center to temporarily close last week.

At a Powell Valley Recycling board meeting on Monday, members discussed various options, and they’re in contact with multiple local insurance agents.

“We’ve been covering all our bases,” Oechsner said.

Nationwide’s decision to bow out came as a surprise, she added, as Powell Valley Recycling had never filed a claim.

Logan said the trouble appears to stem from broader trends.

“It's just the way … the whole insurance industry seems to be changing,” he said at Monday’s city council meeting.

The trade publication Resource Recycling reported last week that recycling companies are finding property insurance “significantly more expensive and difficult to find as providers shy away from fire risk and other complications.”

That piece and others indicate it’s a trend that’s been years in the making. The president of one Montreal-based firm recalled to Resource Recycling that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, “the second you said ‘recycling,’ they [insurers] wanted nothing to do with you.” Other recyclers told the publication that they’ve seen their premiums jump 30%-40%.

Pricey premiums could prove problematic for Powell Valley Recycling given its limited budget. But Oechsner said job one is to simply find a carrier willing to provide any coverage.

“All we can do is just keep shaking the bushes,” she said.

While Powell Valley Recycling’s center remains closed, the nearest option for recycling is the City of Cody’s facility, located at 531 15th St.