Bruin Waste is moving forward with building a recycling facility in partnership with the city of Grand Junction that would service the Western Slope. The Naturita-based waste disposal service operates in Montrose, Mesa, Garfield, San Miguel, Ouray, San Juan, Dolores, Montezuma, Delta, and Archuleta counties. Locally, Bruin Waste does the majority of recycling in Telluride and Mountain Village. Recycling is done in a 鈥渟ingle stream鈥� meaning that all recyclables go into one (truck) bed and are sorted at a facility.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bruin Waste owned and operated a facility in Montrose, but the company discontinued their sort line during the pandemic. 鈥淒uring COVID, it became extremely difficult to staff that, as you can imagine. So we changed gears a little bit and started taking that recycling that we were collecting, packing it up and sending it to a facility in Salt Lake City,鈥� Rob Kendall, Bruin Waste VP of sales and new market development.
Bruin Waste began looking for a solution that was closer to home and met with the city of Grand Junction. On Dec. 18, Grand Junction City Council voted 6-1 for city staff to negotiate a contract with Bruin Waste to create a regional material recovery facility (MRF). The plan is to construct a 58,450 square foot building on 9.58 acres of land. Costs of construction are estimated at $5.5 million, with equipment costs likely between $8-10 million. The city of Grand Junction is also applying for a $5 million Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant to help pay for the project.