La Plata County residents can recycle glass, plastic, paper and aluminum, but what about an old dishwasher? A decades-old car? That rusting bicycle leaning against the shed?
A metal-recycling facility setting up shop east of Durango aims to save those old and unusable products from the junkyard. The facility, owned by Montrose-based Recla Metals, will buy, sort and then resell the materials to businesses across the country that recraft them into new products.
The business hopes to open within a month.
“Right now, some material isn’t being appropriately handled in this area. I know people have concerns about junkyards, but we are not a junkyard. We are a recycling facility,” co-owner Garry Fulks said about the business.
The site will accept ferrous (iron-containing) and nonferrous metal and electronic waste.
Despite concerns about water contamination, traffic and unsightly views, La Plata County commissioners on Tuesday approved the facility to lease a portion of a 17-acre parcel owned by M. Leeder Construction, which operates an asphalt recycling and reuse operation on the property.
The property is near the intersection of U.S. Highway 160 and County Road 225A.
Recla Metals has operated a similar recycling facility as well as a steel service center and a roofing division in Montrose since 1973. Company employees promoted the Durango location as a much-needed facility to keep junk out of the landfill and provide a boost to the local economy.
The company estimated it will hire six to 10 new employees and, by paying residents for their metal products, will put more money in people’s pockets. Matthews Alvarez, Recla Metals’ general manager, estimated the company would receive 500 tons of ferrous metal each month at the La Plata County facility.
Greg Fulks, Garry Fulks’ son and an employee of Recla Metals, said the company pays an average salary of $49,000 per year, which is 20 percent higher than the county’s average wage of $40,673.
An economic impact analysis conducted by the La Plata County Economic Development Alliance last year estimated the indirect job and tax benefits if Recla Metals located here and employed 15 people. That analysis estimated a total impact of 24.6 jobs, including indirect job creation, and $15,000 in additional sales and property tax. The impacts would be half to a third of last year’s estimate with Recla’s current employment projections, said Roger Zalneraitis, the alliance’s executive director.
In addition to economic impact, the company’s operations align with the county’s values of sustainability, Zalneraitis said.
Though many nearby residents agreed with Recla’s goals of reuse and recycling, they worried that fluids draining from old cars, batteries and other objects would contaminate water in Pioneer Ditch, which runs through the property, and other groundwater sources downslope of the operation. County planning department officials said sand filtration, berm construction and detention ponds on the site would provide the necessary water protections.
The company uses special racks to prop up cars while employees drain fluids, which prevents leakage, said Greg Fulks. Cars waiting to be drained that may be leaking would likely have lost all their fluid by the time they arrive at the facility, Recla employees said.
One-quarter to one-third of the company’s business is automobiles, and the rest includes everything from appliances, bicycles and trampolines to snowmobiles, file cabinets and old metal roofing, Alvarez said.
After the sorting and cleaning processes, the metals are baled or packaged and hauled away on trucks to processing facilities in places such as Denver, Phoenix or Albuquerque, Garry Fulks said.
If everything goes according to plan, Recla Metals should be up and running in a month, Alvarez said.
ecowan@durangoherald.com
