Commercial Pickup May Be Retooled

Feb. 11--One serious hurdle to an effective recycling program in Santa Fe is the absence of viable commercial pickup.

The commercial rates are so high that few businesses can afford to participate.

Of the 18,000 businesses that pay for city trash collection, only 145 -- less than 1 percent -- participate in the recycling program.

To address that, the city is conducting a review of its rate structure and is likely to lower rates for businesses, according to William DeGrande, acting city Solid Waste Division director.

But the regional Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency might not wait for the city to change its commercial program, said Justin Stockdale, the agency's recycling program director.

It has asked for $1.5 million in state capital money to buy equipment and start a commercial pickup service that would not only give businesses a costeffective outlet, but would also serve the dozens of government buildings in the city.

The agency recently spent about $2 million to purchase equipment that sorts and bales recyclable material. In order toget the most economic benefit for a self-sustaining program, Stockdale said all waste producers need to participate.

"There is really no commercial recycling going on in Santa Fe today. ? It's not likely anybody else is going to do it, and we are obviously highly motivated," he said.

Santa Fe County Solid Waste Division Director Phillip Westen said the county doesn't use the city's commercial pickup but would like to recycle materials produced at its downtown offices.

The county accepts recycled goods from small commercial users at its seven transfer stations.

Waste Management Inc. is a private company that collects trash and recyclables from about 350 commercial customers and 7,800 households in Eldorado, Los Alamos, Las Campanas, La Tierra,La Cienega, Lamy, Madrid, Pojoaque, Espanola and Cochiti Pueblo.

Company public affairs manager Marlene Feuer said the company expects to deliver about 1,300 tons of recyclables to the regional materials-recovery facility.

For business owners, the options for recycling in the city are dismal, according to TC Gritt, who was assistant store manager at the Santa Fe Whole Foods Market for six years before taking a national job with the company.

Once-a-week pickup as offered by the city isn't adequate for most businesses, Gritt said.

"There's probably a misconception in the mind of the community at large that because they have curbside pickup at their house that recycling is available to businesses as well, and that it is as easy as it is at your house. In reality, it's far more complicated than that," she said.

Gritt is a member of the Green Business Alliance, an organization that has been meeting for about a year to attempt to find solutions to the recycling problem and others. It meets the third Friday of every month at Whole Foods.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

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