BUTTE – After about a dozen years of service, recycling operations in Butte are going by the wayside.
“So we tried everything we can to keep it open, but with cuts from the last legislature mixed with falling commodity prices we just couldn’t do it anymore,” said Aware Inc. Representative Pat Noonan.
Aware Inc. will end its contract with the city for curbside pickup of recyclables, which will affect about 300 households in Butte. They will also stop collecting drop off recycling at its South Arizona Street facility and recycle bins around town.
The company will also reposition about a dozen employees to other parts of the company once recycling operations complete halt by the end of April.
“It was a tough decision to come to and it was something that we tried our best to keep the operations open here because we feel like it’s been a very important and great service for the city,” Noonan said.
Now for about a decade Aware here in Butte collected paper and cardboard and plastic and of course a lot of tin cans, but now that they’re closing up they hope someone can come along and lease this facility and take over recycling in Butte.
“We have the baler and we have plenty of equipment to run a good recycling operation and I think we would be open to if somebody else steps in and lease the equipment or buy the equipment,” Noonan said.
Unless that happens, recycling comes to an end.
