REACH Inc.’s new recycling sort keeps curbside recycling opportunities in Klamath Falls and adds up to 10 jobs in the process

A worker drops sorted paper products fall into a bin below the sort line. This paper will be packaged and sold to a pulp mill in Springfield that will turn old paper into new recycled paper. (Image, Brian Gailey / Klamath Falls News)

“The word recycle has grown to mean many different things today,” said Ron Moe Executive Director at REACH Inc. “It’s grown here at REACH, we dedicate ourselves to the reusability and recycling of the Klamath Basins reusable items.”

The recycling process in the United States has been difficult in recent years. China, a previous receiver of US recycling, has pulled out of the recycling market because the US sent too much garbage mixed in the recyclables. This made it difficult for companies such as Waste Management to properly dispose of recyclable goods.

When a rate increase was proposed by Waste Management to Klamath County to offset new recycling costs, citizens spoke out against the increase but still wanted to continue recycling. This prompted officials at REACH Inc. to investigate how they can work with Waste Management, Klamath County and the citizens to continue recycling.

REACH crafted a solution and issued a proposal to the Klamath County Commissioners. The proposal included securing initial funding bringing a recycle sorting facility to the REACH plant on Maywood Drive as well as a partial first year operations subsidy to help get the program off the ground.

“The proposal we sent over, proposed we move a recycle sort facility to here in Klamath Falls and sort that stuff out to where it can actually be used,” said Moe. “We can be a partial solution, taking all those recycle items, separating them out, and sending them to the end user.”

With help from Klamath County to purchase the used sorting facility, REACH can maintain and grow the operation through dumping fees and resale of the recyclables.

When Waste Management drops the unseparated materials from curbside recycling containers, they are charged a dumping fee. Once separated, REACH will then sell the recyclables to mills, plants and facilities that will convert the recyclables into new items.

This business model and service growth is expected to employ up to 10 additional full-time jobs at REACH.

The downside to this sorting line, is their limitations. The current infrastructure will only allow them to sort a limited amount of total recyclable goods.

An employee sorts paper goods on the new REACH sort line. (Image, Brian Gailey / Klamath Falls News)

Acceptable items

The following clean items can be recycled through REACH:

Newspapers
Magazines
Books
Smooth cardboard
White paper
Colored paper
Corrugated cardboard
Plastic bottles
Metal beverage containers
Food cans
Household metals

The following items are NOT accepted in the REACH recycling program at this time:

Styrofoam
Glass
Wax coated food containers (i.e. juice boxes, paper milk cartons, etc)
Food contaminated paper (i.e. fast food wrappers/bags)
Food contaminated cardboard (i.e. pizza boxes)
Household garbage

“I wish to stress that many things are recyclable, but we are limited to only what we can take here at this facility,” says Moe. “We encourage recycling of all types, but please only send us what we can handle.”

A Waste Management truck drops a load of recyclables from commercial clients for sorting at REACH Inc. (Image, Brian Gailey / Klamath Falls News)

Community support

The success of this project relies on help from the community. REACH asks that recycling begins at home.

“We plan to educate the consumer on what we can and cannot accept, and which cans to use when sorting at home. It all starts there,” says Moe.

Young and old alike take out the trash, if they are unsure where to place the items, that makes things difficult for the program to work correctly and efficiently. Please only place the acceptable items inside the recycling can so that when they arrive at REACH the recyclables are clean and not contaminated.

Contaminated recyclables, such as wet cardboard, cannot be recycled and will be sent to the landfill.

“Water and food are the worst contaminators. One container can infect an entire load,” says Moe. “These items mold and rot before they can arrive at a processing facility. Moldy and rotten items cannot be recycled.”

A loader feeds a conveyor on the sort line at REACH Inc. (Image, Brian Gailey / Klamath Falls News)

What’s next?

The sort line has been running for several weeks in a beta test to work out the bugs and to train employees. They are taking in recyclables from Waste Management’s commercial clients. REACH is reporting that nearly 95% of what is coming in is recyclable, leaving just 5% of the incoming load to be trash.

Soon the sorting line will be taking recyclables from households. They are hopeful that 80% of goods coming in will be recyclable through their sorting line. However, this will only be accomplished if sorting begins at home.

Learn more about REACH Inc., the sorting line and all other things that REACH does at http://reachkfalls.com/