Bigfork's green box site getting trashed

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

There's a fine line between trash and trashed, and the Flathead County Green Box Site on Highway 83 in Bigfork is often straddling that narrow distinction.

In the midst of all the green dumpsters is an empty area for appliances to be picked up and recycled by the county's solid waste department. A large orange sign reads: "Appliances only here… No Batteries, Tires, TVs, Couches Chairs, Wood Products or anything not listed above."

Directly beneath that sign, on any given day, you can find stacks of all the things specifically banned, something Flathead County Solid Waste Department head Dave Prunty said is continually frustrating.

"We've got it better under control in the last few years," he said. "We've seen some improvement, but we haven't solved the problem."

Prunty said that over the summer, for every flatbed truckload of appliances the department hauls off to be recycled, nearly another whole load of miscellaneous garbage has to be hauled to the landfill.

"It's pure cost for us to run that truck up with the trash," said Prunty, who attributed the large quantity of refuse to residents coping with $4 a gallon gas who were reluctant to make the trip to Kalispell themselves.

And that cost matters, especially to Bigfork, because the county is still mulling plans to close the Highway 83 site along with others around the Flathead.

"We're slowly but surely working on Kila and Marion," Prunty said.

Consolidating those sites is first priority for the department, then Prunty said the board will likely target Bigfork, Lakeside and a few sites in the Canyon around Martin City and Hungry Horse.

The goal is to consolidate the sites to save money, Prunty said, something the department was sorely in need of as gas prices skyrocketed this year.

"As population grows, these sites will get tougher and tougher to operate economically," he said.

And as for the mess? It's not just the truck drivers and department managers who notice.

Jason Morton, a Bigfork resident who uses the Highway 83 site, was so mad about the state of the facility a few weeks ago that he drove right to the Eagle's office and then wrote a letter to the editor (see page A4).

"Certainly, creating this mess for the county to clean up is not going to help us keep the site," he wrote in his letter.

Prunty didn't disagree, noting that the dumpsters are for "household goods" and that as part of the taxes paid for trash service, each family is allowed to dispose of four tires each year at the county landfill in Kalispell.

"Our goal is to get folks to handle it properly," he said.