Rosalia recycle center could be eliminated

The Town of Rosalia is asking its residents to stop using its recycle center as a dumping ground – or risk losing the free service.

“I'd really hate to go that route, but the threat is there,” said Mayor Nanette Konishi, noting that the town council has not discussed it yet.

Konishi sent out a notice in the town's newsletter last week asking for residents to be mindful of the service.

“Our maintenance guys have important things to do, not cleaning up other people's trash,” she said.

The recycle center has been a free service for residents of Rosalia for a number of years. It was first put in place when Ken Jacobs was still mayor, Konishi said. She estimates that it has been there for 10 to 12 years. Originally, the facility had bins for residents to separate out items to recycle, but that was changed when the county landfill switched to single stream.

“We all pretty much had to switch to single stream,” said Konishi.

In recent years, Empire Disposal has provided a large, blue recycle bin for the items.

“Empire picks it up and brings it back,” said Konishi.

Konishi said the issue with residents leaving trash there is not a new issue.

“It seems to be escalating right now, but it has always been a problem from time-to-time,” she said.

In addition to dumping trash, residents have also been leaving items outside of the bin.

“If it's full when they go there, they just dump it on the ground and leave it there,” said Konishi.

If the behaviors continue, Konishi said one route the town may have to take is to have the facility only open during business hours. This would mean that it is only open on weekdays, making it inaccessible for those who work during the day.

“It would be open for general work day hours for the public works guys,” said Konishi.

The town does not have it in its budget to hire a maintenance person to have the facility staffed. If the issues get to the point of needing someone there to supervise, the facility could be shut down.

“We'd have to close down the whole facility because we just can't afford it,” said Konishi. “It takes citizens being aware that any time they toss trash everybody pays for it in the end.”

Konishi said the recycle center is something the town needs, and she wants it to be able to stay.

“I personally think recycling is really important,” she said. “Driving down our highways and seeing the trash and litter is pretty sad.”

Anyone who sees someone dumping trash at the recycle center is asked to report it to the Rosalia Town Hall.