Treasure Valley expands recycling options

Every month Boise collects about 1,500 tons of recyclable paper, plastic, metal and more from its residents.

Almost all of that material is baled and shipped out of state for sale and sorting.

The city’s trash collector, Republic Services, plans to remedy that by building the state’s first sorting facility in Meridian.

Technically called a material recovery facility or MRF (pronounced “murf”), the specialized plant receives, separates and prepares recyclable materials for sale to end-user manufacturers.

Republic Services plans to build the facility within a year at Ten Mile and Franklin roads, said Rachele Klein, Republic’s business development manager.

The site is ideal because it is centrally located within the Valley and has freeway access via the new Ten Mile interchange.

Republic Services plans to build on land it is acquiring by merging with Sanitary Services Co., which provides trash service to the city of Meridian. The merger should be complete April 1.

Sanitary Services had considered building an MRF facility a few years ago. “They had the right spot,” Klein said. “We had the right volume.”