Angel of Shavano Recycling notified Chaffee County administration that it is terminating its contract with the County and closing its Poncha Springs-based operations center on April 8th, 2021.
This will also be its last day providing recycling services for households and businesses within the county. Beginning April 8th, the community drop-off recycling sites in Salida and Buena Vista managed by Angel of Shavano will be closed while the County evaluates alternatives for county-wide recycling programs. Updates will be provided and posted to https://www.chaffeecounty.org/landfill-recycling-locations as soon as possible to inform the community on updated recycling options as they are determined.
Chaffee County government has contracted with Angel of Shavano, a private recycling firm, since 2006 to process recyclable cardboard, plastics, aluminum/tin, glass, paper and newspaper. During this time, Angel of Shavano also accepted household recyclables collected through Waste Management and provided recycling drop-off bins throughout the county for general community use. Mickey Barry, owner of Angel of Shavano Recycling, shares that, “It has been a difficult decision for Angel of Shavano to close the business, but one that had to be made for our family’s growth and well being.”
Chaffee County Administration, County Landfill staff, and the Board of County Commissioners are actively working with the local municipalities’ leadership to assess recycling options to address Angel of Shavano’s departure from this role. A Special Meeting of the BOCC has been scheduled for Friday, April 2nd at 9:00 am, to discuss possible solutions to county-wide household and business recycling needs. The meeting will be on zoom at https://zoom.us/j/109079543.
“Environmental stewardship is a strongly held value within Chaffee County, and this includes minimizing the recyclable materials going into our landfill. It is important for our communities to have recycling options here. We also recognize that the commodity industry for post-consumer recyclables has continued to be flat, creating difficult market conditions for rural communities like ours. We thank the Barry family for their perseverance through several years of these conditions and wish them well in the future,” comments County Commissioner Greg Felt.
In 2019, Chaffee County generated 26,237 tons of waste, of which 1,912 tons (7.3%) was recycled or composted. The County and local municipalities help sustain viable community recycling services within Chaffee through financial support allocated from the Waste Disposal Fund.
