County seeks funding to build new recycling center as old building ages

Tucked down County Road 502, just east of Gainesville, the Ozark County Recycling Center has been making a big impact on this county and beyond since its formation in 1992. 

Every day, employees can be seen unloading bags of plastic, paper, glass and metal as they are brought in by residents—diverted from landfills and Ozark County’s beautiful countryside.

But step past the mountains of neatly stacked recyclables, and another story emerges. The building itself shows deep signs of wear. Buckets of water pour in from the leaky roof, which mixes with the deluge of water that flows in the front door anytime it rains. Most of the rafters lining the sides of the building are rotted through and falling apart. “You can literally reach up and grab the boards, and they just crumble in your hands,” Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton told the Times during a tour of the facility last week. 

Despite its dilapidated exterior, the mission of the recycling center remains stronger than ever. But the question remains: how long can a place so beneficial to the area continue if the very structure supporting it is falling apart?

The Ozark County Commissioners say they hope a solution presents itself before they find out.

The commissioners are currently working with the South Central Ozarks Council of Governments (SCOCOG) to draft a grant proposal that, if funded, would build a desperately-needed new facility. 

County officials say they have no idea if the proposal will be successful, but they’re hoping it’s at least a step in the right direction to finding a solution for the future of the recycling center. 

Current challenges - and plans to overcome them

If Ozark County is chosen as a recipient of the grant award, a new facility would be built on the county’s newly-acquired property that sits adjacent to the current structure, near the intersection of County Roads 513 and 502. A home is currently occupying the land, but it will be demolished once the former owners remove all of their belongings from the structure, making way for a new building. 

Newton says the new land has a high point that is much better suited for a building than the current location, which sits at a low point, funneling water drainage toward the structure. 

The new location would also provide a greater distance from the county’s road and bridge department and its equipment, which currently sits right next door to the center. Commissioners say that would help keep the road and bridge building and its contents safer. 

Based on current plans, the new recycling center would be 50- by 200-foot, slightly larger than the facility they have now. The county would retain that newer section of the current building, which would then be used for additional storage of baled recyclables awaiting pickup by their broker. 

Combined, the two structures would give recycling center about one and a half times as much space as the current facility. Recycling Center Manager Michael King says that space is key to expanding the center’s services, because in addition to the deteriorating structure, the center has also outgrown the size of the current building.

“We would like to grow and take [different types of] recyclables, but with the building we have now, we don’t have enough room for the extra equipment that we would need to make that happen,” King said. “You can see how cramped it is. We can barely fit our truck through here, and whenever we have people coming in too, you can’t even walk. You can’t work. It’s just hard.”

Fitting the recyclables themselves in the structure is another issue. “With our recyclables, we have to have 33 to 36 bales [of one type of material] to make a truckload. They won’t come to get them if we don’t have the 36...”

“We just don’t have the storage room. If we get 30 bales of #1 plastics, and 20 of aluminum cans and 30 of the cardboard, we have no room in the building for anything else,” King explained. “In July of last year, we got a new broker, she gave us a big long list of things that we can send to her, but we don’t have room for the equipment to store anything once we bale it up. We have to find a way to get more storage and room.”

As far as equipment goes, the recycling center currently has one glass crusher and four balers, in addition to a Bobcat and a forklift. King said if there was room, they would like to add two additional balers, which would allow each baler to be dedicated to a specific type of recyclable - one for a certain type of plastic, one for tin cans, one for aluminum cans and so on. Currently, the employees have to store uncrushed recyclables in big bins while they await their turn in the baler. 

“For example, we’re fixing to take out a bale of our #1 plastics. We’ll take it out, and then we have to put tin cans in to crush them. Then when we get the tin can-bale out, we’ll have to put the aluminum cans in. And when we’re done with the aluminum cans, we’ll go back to soda bottles and #1 plastics. That’s why we have to have all this storage [for non-compacted recyclables] whereas if we had a dedicated baler for each item, we could just throw them in as they came in. That would also mean that we’d be handling the item one time, whereas now we have to handle the material two or three times before it gets baled. It would just save so much time, manpower and space,” he said.

Recyclables like newspaper and paper cannot be stored in any of the areas that leak water, so they are prioritized in the dry, newer addition near the rear of the building. 

“If our cardboard gets wet, they dock us on our price. They always do a moisture test, and if our cardboard is over the amount they allow, then they pay us less for it. So, if we usually get $120 a ton, we’d only get $60 or $70 a ton - and that barely pays shipping costs,” King said. “For that reason we can’t put it outside in the weather or in any part of the building where it’s going to soak up all the water that comes through here.” He explained that the rule is due to the fact that water-logged cardboard weighs more than dry cardboard, which would inflate the price they are paid for the weight of the bale. 

Today’s services

The recycling center began in 1992. Although there have been various changes to the staffing and procedures over the years, the county continues to operate the center today - and it’s a big undertaking. The center has a dedicated staff of three: Manager Michael King and full-time workers Eric Lee and Amani Kowiti, who work their tails off to process a steady flow of recyclables that are dropped off in Gainesville from residents throughout the area - Ozark County, as well as Ava, Mountain Home, Caulfield, Mountain Grove and other locations, King says. 

Last year, the center processed an amazing 228,000 tons of recyclables. To put that in perspective, one ton is equal to about 62,000 aluminum cans, 20,600 square feet of cardboard boxes or 4,000 glass bottles. The men run a pickup route to Gainesville businesses once a week, but all residential customers bring their recyclables in to the center during their open hours of 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. “We try to stay open so it’s convenient for people. We have people who come by around 6 or so in the morning before they’re going to work. We have other people who come by at 4 or 4:30 after work.” Staff ask that no recyclables be left after hours or when the gate is closed.

The center currently accepts #1 and #2 plastics, broken-down cardboard boxes (both regular and “slick-sided”), newspapers, office paper, tin and aluminum cans and glass bottles and jars (no mirrors or windows). They do not pay for recyclables, but they do not charge to drop off either. The recycling center now works with Illinois-based national recycling broker Quincy Recycle, which purchases the recyclables here and locations across the country. They send a truck down to pick up the baled items when the Gainesville center lets them know they have enough bales to make a load. The county just began using Quincy last July, and that relationship could lead to expanded recyclables accepted including different types of plastics (#5 and #7) or textiles like clothing, shoes and fabric. But currently, those items can’t be accepted due to space limitations.

The Ozark County Recycling Center also accept bags of trash for $3 per bag and allows residents to empty 55-gallon barrels for $6 per barrel. Both trash and barrel contents are thrown in the recycling center’s dumpster and hauled away by Green For Life trash service. The size of the bag doesn’t matter - kitchen size or contractor size is the same price. 

In addition to recyclables and trash, the center also accepts scrap metal. “Things like deep freezers, refrigerators, washers and dryers, cook stoves, metal lawn furniture or any other metal items like that,” King said. Again, the center does not pay customers for the metal, but it does not charge to accept it either. Staff here work with S&L Recycling of Ava, which crushes the metal items and transports it back to their location for further recycling. 

“We do ask that if you bring in a freezer or refrigerator to make sure there is no food inside. We had a fellow bring in a deep freeze full of deer meat and fish awhile back. It was in the middle of summer, and we didn’t know anything was inside. About two weeks later, when we opened it up, everybody around here knew it was in there,” King said. 

The center also accepts used motor oil, which they burn in their heater. They can process vehicle batteries, and they can accept regular batteries - which they then pass onto another nearby facility in West Plains to process.

The center does not accept tires, but the South Central Solid Waste District usually offers a tire-drop off location somewhere within their seven-county service area (Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Shannon, Texas and Wright counties) - usually West Plains or Ava is the closest drop off to Gainesville, the staff said. The organization also offers an electronic recycling service usually once a year. Last year, the City of Gainesville was a drop off point for electronic waste collection. Keep an eye out on the “South Central Solid Waste Management District” Facebook page for more information on the event. We also hope to advertise the drives in the Times when possible. 

Not a money-maker, but a needed asset

Ozark County Clerk and Budget Officer Brian Wise said that the recycling center doesn’t really ever make the county money, but it’s a service that is needed and well used. The county does receive a grant each year to help with recycling center employees’ wages - usually somewhere between $30,000 to $40,000 a year. The sale of the recycling products themselves also helps to offset the cost of operating the center. 

Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton said that he’s proud of the crew at the recycling center, and it’s obvious they take a lot of pride in their work. He said there’s no doubt in his mind that the recycling center is a benefit to the area, and Ozark County is better off with it here.

“I’ve had multiple people ask me, ‘Why do we even need it up there?’ My response is that we have more than 200 thousand pounds of trash going through there. What would Ozark County look like if that wasn’t there? You know where that stuff would end up - in ditches, on government roads or they’d just dig a hole on the property… it’d be bad. This is helping curb all of that, and giving people a place to bring it. It’s a really good thing.”

The Ozark County Recycling Center can be reached at 417-679-3444. Staff said the center is currently having issues with their phone service. If residents can’t reach the center that way but have questions, they can call the commissioner’s office at 417-679-4096 or email ozarkcountycommission@outlook.com. 

To find out more about the South West Solid Waste Management District, visit scocog.org and use the drop down menu for “Programs” to then select “Solid Waste.” Residents can also call 417-256-4226 or email scocog.org/solid-waste.html.