Medora looks into recycling

The city of Medora is looking into developing a recycling program, which could allow city residents to recycle cardboard, aluminum, paper and plastic, a city official said.

The issue was discussed at an April 6 Medora City Council meeting and was tabled to gather more input and information. Surveys were sent within the last few days to town residents, said Medora Mayor Doug Ellison.

"The idea was to buy a recycling trailer or trailers for Medora," Ellison said. "We would deliver our cardboard to Beach, our aluminum cans to Dickinson and our paper and plastics to Bismarck."

A quote for a trailer was around $8,000 at the meeting, though Ellison said there was some discussion that a bigger trailer may be needed.

"We had a quote on one trailer, and the question was raised whether or not that was sufficient or not," Ellison said. "They (the council members) were wondering if that would get filled too soon, or if we're going to be running down the road with it every day."

Ellison said there would most likely be a schedule worked out for volunteer drivers.

The issue is expected to be discussed at the council's meeting next month.

Kim Nunberg, Beach city auditor, said the recycling program in Beach allows for residents to drop off cardboard and aluminum. The cardboard and aluminum are sold to companies in various locations depending on the market. Proceeds from the aluminum go to Home on the Range, a residential child care facility in Sentinel Butte.

Beach's project, which has been ongoing since about 2005, started as a Future Business Leaders of America project within Beach Public School.

"FBLA had done a survey of the county, asking people if they recycled or if they didn't, and if they chose to recycle, what items they recycled," Nunberg said. "Based on the information that was in the survey, we determined that there was enough of a need for us to develop a recycling program."

The FBLA team took third place at a 2005 national competition in Florida with the project, she added.

Golva and Sentinel Butte also bring cardboard and recyclables to Beach, Nunberg said.

Dickinson's Recycling Committee held its second meeting earlier this week and started developing a table listing recyclable items.

"After we identified all the recyclable items, we then identified how well we think we're doing right now in recycling efforts," said Shawn Kessel, Dickinson city administrator, adding that "we" could include private organizations or benevolent groups as well. "We then rated how well those items are being recycled."

The group also discussed "low-hanging fruit," or items that require more focus, he said.

"Grass clippings and yard waste was one of the highest ones, not only because it's one of the biggest items at the landfill in terms of volume, but there's other ways we can deal with it," Kessel said. "If we can collect it properly, we can turn it into mulch or do other things so that it doesn't go into our landfill."