By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Hays has one of the highest participation rates among Kansas's 40 or so municipal recycling programs.
About 80% of Hays residential customers are putting out their blue bags to be picked up at their homes by the recycling crew from the Solid Waste division of the Public Works Department.
There's no collection fee charged for the recycling program.
Blue bags are available for purchase at several locations in Hays, including Walmart, Dillons, and Westlake Ace Hardware.
Paper and cardboard go in one blue or clear plastic bag and a second co-mingled bag is filled with plastic containers No. 1-No. 7, glass jars, and aluminum and tin cans.
There's also the option of dropping recyclables off at the recycling center, 1780 W. 55th St., in the metal collection bins just outside the building.
Any area resident is allowed to utilize the drop-off bins at the processing center north of Hays.
"We get a lot of people from Rooks County coming in. We also had a woman from Hill City call and say they were coming to Hays to shop and wanted to know if they could drop off their recyclables," said Steve Dreiling, foreman, "and they did. We allow that."
"The city of Hays has one of the finest recycling programs in the state of Kansas," said Marvin Honas, Solid Waste Division superintendent.
The local program has been recognized several times by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
"That's all due to our citizens. They're the ones that make this program work," Honas said.
It started 24 years ago with an intensive public education program focusing on school children.
"They'd get the information and then take it home to educate their parents," Honas said. "Our hat goes off to our customers for their devotion to our program."
It's easy to utilize, and the city knows its residents want to feel good about keeping trash out of the waste stream.
Jesse Rohr, public works director, said although the city is paid for some of its recyclables, the popular program is not a money-maker.
Currently, International Paper of Wichita pays $85 a ton for Hays' cardboard/paper bales, which weigh almost 1,500 pounds each. A semi-trailer is filled with 31 bales every 10 days and then is picked up by International Paper and taken to Wichita. An empty trailer is left in its place.
The plastics are driven in a roll-off to Stutzman Refuse Disposal in Hutchinson by Hays employees every four days.
The city pays Stutzman to accept the co-mingled loads.
"Right now, we pay to get rid of it, about $25,000 a year currently," said Rohr.
The recyclables market fluctuates widely.
It has plummeted at times to as low as $5 a ton for paper. Recycled plastics have often been less desirable than paper, although the industry is on the upswing, according to numerous financial market analyses.
Several years ago, city commissioners discussed whether is was financially feasible to continue the recycling program. They decided to keep it going.
"We get some revenue that helps us sustain the program," Rohr said. "We just try to recoup our costs."
Every weekday, the recycling crew hits the streets at 7 a.m. to pick up the recycling.
Workers tear open the blue bags and dump the contents into the paper/cardboard or the co-mingles compartment. The blue bags are kept separate and will wind up as trash.
The weekday route is completed by about noon. In the afternoon, employees process the loads at the recycling center.
The city just purchased a new paper baler for $124,000, replacing the original machine, which ran 24 years.
"This program is a well-oiled machine," Rohr said.
Dreiling said there are some things the city cannot recycle and won't accept.
"We do not accept bubble wrap, Styrofoam, any kind of plastic wrapping or plastic shopping bags. Some things may say they're recyclable but they're not recyclable in our program."
If you're unsure whether something is accepted in Hays, Dreiling advises calling the Public Works office at 785-628-7350 or checking the city's website.
The eight-man crew is used to working in less-than-perfect weather conditions.
"If it's windy, you can put a rock on the blue bags to keep them from blowing away. If it's raining, we'll still pick it up," Dreiling said. "The cardboard will dry out."
Even though the city offers a recycling program, Honas said the best way to make a difference in the amount of trash produced is to "reduce your consumption, reuse or repurposes what you can, and then recycle."