The Ups and Downs of Recycling in Gallup
By Be Sargent
Work of Heart Mural, lower right panel
& Work of Strength Mural, lower right panel
We covered the Girl Scouts and Recycling in the June 2011 issue and now we will talk about the real movers and shakers in recycling in Gallup.
The Business Recyclers: left to right, Frank and Barbara Kozeliski, who, until they sold Gallup Sand and Gravel, recycled glass (see the pile of crushed glass in front of them). GS&G still recycles concrete and asphalt. Recycled concrete was used as the base course under the asphalt roadway leading to Gallup High School. Now Barbara is the principal of Gallup Catholic and Frank continues to be a concrete consultant, President of the National Pervious Concrete Pavement Association, giving troubleshooting concrete seminars. Evidently Gallup is the world headquarters for pervious concrete, which captures stormwater and allows it to seep into the ground. Frank also sells the insulated concrete forms that Chris Chavez mentioned in my last article.
Reading a paper is the late, beloved, John Zollinger, owner of the Gallup Independent, which has recycled newspapers back to their paper supplier for over 25 years. Bob Zollinger is also a committed recycler and carries on the tradition.
With wood and windows behind them, Danny and Luz Maria Rainaldi, owners of Another Man’s Treasure, have been in business for 20 years. If not for them we would be mining the landfill for the treasures that they have managed to recycle. They know the value of old doors, moldings, bits and pieces. Danny encourages people to be on the lookout for things that are going to be thrown away.
The two friends below are Linda Popelish and Betsy Windisch, now into 20 some years of struggling to get Gallup to get serious about recycling. Persuaded by the artist, Betsy is holding the optimistic sign ZERO WASTE IN 2020.
Our own Octavia Fellin brought awareness to recycling in Gallup in 1988. Out of this, McKinley Citizens’ Recycling Council was born, and tax-exempt status was achieved.
Betsy Windisch, sometimes president and sometimes not, and Linda Popelish, treasurer or secretary, have shepherded MCRC through an ongoing series of ups and downs.
UP: Drop-offs at Albertsons, Wal-Mart, Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital.
DOWN: Cessation of drop-off areas.
UP: Local recycler transported recyclables to Zuni (ZEE – Zuni
Entrepreneurial Enterprise), from there taken to Albuquerque.
DOWN: Prices drop so that is no longer viable.
UP: Gallup Sand & Gravel (GS&G) takes glass. (Not any more.)
UP: Mayor Bob Rosebrough institutes collection of “Outlaw Glass.”
UP: Rainbow Recycling Center (RRC) opens. Gallup Solid Waste
Dept. cooperates by hauling glass to GS&G. (Not any more.)
DOWN: Program to give restaurants free glass pick-up fails.
DOWN: RRC closed, due to its monumental pile of plastic deemed unsightly when really it was a tribute to the enthusiasm shown by the citizenry.
UP: Jim Harlin offers to take paper and cardboard at the Community Pantry and John Shaw from McKinley Paper (now Bio-PAPPEL) provides baler.
UP: Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) grant makes it possible to hire Betsy Windisch as a Recycling Coordinator (ends 12/11).
UP: A new Recycling Center at the transfer station on Hasler Valley is open Monday-Saturday, 8 am – 4:30 pm. Now accepting plastic #1 and #2 BOTTLES only, aluminum, steel cans, mixed paper, and more.
DOWN: Many people feel it is too far to go.
I interviewed Betsy and she had this to say: “First of all we must have enlightened leadership and the commitment from government for sustainable recycling. We have tried as a volunteer organization to educate and raise awareness. It has been difficult. Volunteers and, even my position as a Recycling Coordinator on the two-year CARE grant, did not come with authority to make things happen. The grant provided time for education, communication, and awareness-raising through presentations, workshops, newspaper articles, and more.”
In spite of the McKinley Citizens’ Recycling Council members feeling like they were often the “voice crying in the wilderness,” they provided expertise in the area of recycling to the residents of Gallup and McKinley County for over twenty years. Their efforts have resulted in the diversion of thousands of tons of solid waste from our regional landfill.
MCRC as a grassroots citizens’ advocacy and education group see their position as the liaison between the public, local government, and the Solid Waste Authority. The public is serious about recycling and they want their elected and paid officials to be serious about it, too! The City and County have representation on the Solid Waste Authority Board, but they may not realize how important recycling is to their constituency.
An understanding of the impact of recycling on energy reduction, cost savings, job creation, is critical. This is a quality of life and tourism issue, as well. Betsy gets calls daily from citizens asking what and where they can recycle. New people coming to town are often in shock that more recycling opportunities aren’t visible and available. Experts have said that three dollars per household per month should pay for curbside recycling. Grants to assist with a Pay-As-You-Throw program are available and would benefit our community.
Betsy recalls one mayor, years ago, “The then-MCRC-president and I went to talk to him. He said, ‘I think it’s just great that you are doing this recycling.’ And we’re thinking, yeah right, we are just 15 volunteers, we need your help, mayor.” Government officials will need to educate themselves about the importance of a recycling program for our community. The New Mexico Recycling Coalition, with whom MCRC has collaborated for twenty years, provides expertise to cities and communities throughout the state.
Here’s where we are right now. Stimulus money awarded to the City has provided the NWNM Regional Solid Waste Authority (Red Rocks Landfill in Thoreau) with a horizontal baler. The bigger picture is, New Mexico got stimulus money, and New Mexico Environment Dept. (NMED) and New Mexico Recycling Coalition (NMRC) said let’s put out grants for rural communities to up their recycling. That stimulus money was divided among ten different communities. Each one of those communities received a horizontal baler and some of the infrastructure to go with it.
So ours has been delivered and installed. It will bale plastic, newspaper, mixed paper, aluminum and steel cans. These bales will be combined with recyclables from all over the state and sent to market. The City or SWA will then receive a check for their share depending on market price of the item, and if, and only if, the items are properly cleaned, sorted, and baled.
Recycling is a multi-million dollar business. Gallup and McKinley County, with informed and committed leadership, can get their share of the “recycling pie.”
The metal recyclers in this town hung in there during this last recession. All over the country companies were downsizing, going out of business, or merging. None of ours did. That meant people who were out of work went scavenging in the arroyos, hauled out all kinds of metal and took it to the recyclers so they could have some money. So it is in our blood . . .
Shown here in the bottom right panel of Work of Strength, Hilda Kendall, of the Community Food Pantry, driving her forklift, moving bales of cardboard that will be sent to Bio-PAPPEL, formerly McKinley Paper, in Prewitt. This used cardboard will be turned into beautiful rolls of brown paper, such as the one below Hilda, being rolled by Don Hyde who kindly consented to pose.
