Columbia, Mo. Evaluates Options to Improve Recycling Facility

The city of Columbia, Mo. is looking at options for its outdated Material Recovery Facility to improve the location.

The City Council in Columbia met this week with a consultant group and authorized an agreement, to have them help evaluate the future of recycling in the city. The Material Recovery Facility in Columbia was built in 2002 and had RRT Engineering evaluate the Solid Waste Utility’s recycling and waste diversion programs.

“It’s nearing the end of its useful life, a lot of the machinery is aging rapidly,” Columbia Utilities spokesman Matt Nestor said. 

RRT found that equipment is not performing as designed as well as high levels of contamination stemming from drop-off centers, and safety concerns. Employees mentioned that it’s very costly to repair broken machines in the facility and the city is unable to generate any revenue from recyclable materials while a machine is down. This paired with a lack of efficiency is keeping the city from making more money off recycled materials.

Read the full article here.