Weiser recycling center to close

 Depressed prices for recycled commodities and a lack of volunteers have forced officials with WICAP to make the difficult decision to close the Evelyn Stover Recycling Center in Weiser as of July 1. 

 WICAP official Steve Morningstar said the operation is losing money and that cannot continue. Prices for aluminum are way down, and there is no market for recycled cardboard any longer. 

 The expenses involved in recycling, such as baling wire and propane for the forklife, along with transportation costs for cardboard that nobody wants, are up and no money is coming in.

 “I tried my best, but it just isn’t working,” Morningstar said on Tuesday morning.

 WICAP took over management of the recycling operation last October after getting approval from officials with Weiser and Washington County. 

 At that time, recycling at the center was feasible and there was revenue coming in from commodities. When the bottom fell out of the market for recycled materials, WICAP was no longer able to pay anyone to bale the cardboard. Groups used to be able to make money by helping out at the recycling center.

 Morningstar,  community service coordinator in Washington and Adams counties for WICAP, said he’s been spending two hours a day at the center to keep it going. 

 He said he notified both county commissioners and the city that the center will be open through fiddle week and then close at the end of the month.

 WICAP took over operations at the recycling center last fall after the Weiser River Resource Council ended its management on Sept. 26, citing the difficulty of getting volunteers and other issues. 

 The WRRC operated the center for four years and stepped in when the local Kiwanis Club disbanded and could no longer run it. 

 WRRC officials said last year that finding volunteers to run the center was increasingly difficult. 

 The city has paid the monthly electric bill and provided free trash receptacles and pickup at the recycling center and requested that to continue for WICAP. The city agreed to help out with keeping the forklift operating. 

 The county agreed last year to help subsidize the recycling operation up to $300 a month to make up the difference between what the center was receiving in recycling revenue and expenses.