Noncity residents who do not want to pay a $1 fee to recycle got a three-week reprieve as the free drop-off sites at north City Market and the Wagon Wheel Liquors will remain in place until Aug. 17.
These drop-off sites were supposed to convert to a glass-only collection Monday with noncity residents having to go to the Durango Recycling Center on Tech Center Drive to pay a dollar to recycle up to a 60-gallon container worth of materials. Commercial quantities of recyclable material will be accepted for a minimum of $2 per cubic yard.
Construction delays in the expansion and reconfiguration of the Recycling Center caused officials to postpone the transition to a fee-based service for nonresidents, said Mary Beth Miles, the city’s sustainability coordinator.
City residents would not be charged at the Recycling Center because the city already bills them a $3 monthly fee for single-stream recycling.
Because of the delay, the Recycling Center also will continue to accept recyclables until Aug. 17 at no charge.
“So it should be positive (news),” Miles said jokingly Wednesday. “It’s really no change. We’ve just pushed the transition date back.”
The city also had wanted to start a Saturday collection for electronics Aug. 3 at the Recycling Center, but that has been delayed to Aug. 17, as well.
The recycling sites for batteries at the Durango Public Library, the Durango Community Recreation Center, the Transit Center and City Hall also will remain in place until Aug. 17.
The city’s residential and commercial recycling services will not be affected.
“It will be business as usual for those accounts,” Miles said.
jhaug@durangoherald.com
