It has been one month since the city of Columbia announced a partnership with Jefferson City to resume recycling certain recyclables while it rebuilds its Material Recovery Facility, the recycling processing plant.
Currently, the only things being recycled are blue bags containing aluminum and metal cans and some plastics. Cardboard and fiber materials are being sent to the landfill.
The city is working to fix and restore some of the machinery at the Material Recovery Facility in Columbia to make it operational and start recycling some of those cardboard and fiber materials.
"We are looking anywhere from two weeks — if we are on hand and snappy — to maybe a month and a half before we are able to expand into the cardboard and fiber recycling part," said Jason West, a spokesperson for Columbia Utilities.
However, Tom Ratermann, assistant director of Columbia Utilities, said that is not a long-term solution due to weather and litter concerns.
"One of the next steps is building a building over the equipment that's been saved," Ratermann said.
Ratermann said it could take up to 18 months after construction begins for a new building to be put up.
Since July, about 14 tons of recyclable materials have made it to the facility in Jefferson City, West said.
However, for apartment buildings and Columbia businesses, all recyclables are going to the landfill because of lack of space and resources.
"If there is a recycling center at your apartment complex, that material is still being diverted to the landfill," Ratermann said. "There is not a good option for that until we get something more permanent — until we get a building up, really."
Ratermann said about 220,000 tons of trash ended up in the landfill yearly. Last year, the city of Columbia sold about 6,500 tons of commodities, meaning less than 5% of mass material is going to recycling, Ratermann said. Ratermann also said the landfill accepts materials from across the region, meaning the materials going in are not just coming from Columbia.
Ratermann said that in about three to five years, the city of Columbia's landfill will reach the end of its lifespan, and the city is currently looking to make a new one.
While the city works on restoration and waits for construction, diverting recyclables to Jefferson City has proven to be a solid solution, West said.
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