Doing a renovation this year? or building a new house? You may be eligible for significant cash back by sorting your construction and demolition waste through an incentive program offered by Teton Valley Community Recycling (TVCR) in 2019.
TVCR is excited to spread the good news! In partnership with Teton County and RAD Curbside, we have been awarded a $25,000 Sustainable Materials Management grant from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Our project target is to improve waste diversion from Construction and Demolition waste by sorting at job sites. Over $15,000 of direct reimbursements will be paid out to local builders who qualify for clean sorted loads by implementing effective waste sorting strategies.
Teton County Transfer Station already offers a significant financial incentive for contractors and other valley residents to sort their waste for reuse or recycling rather than having it trucked over 90 miles to the landfill in Circular Butte. A sorted load is charged $15 per ton versus $210 per ton if the load is unsorted or contaminated in any way with household garbage, food waste, or other non-sorted materials. Lumber, drywall, metal, concrete, site clearing debris, and other types of construction material can be reused by the County, or can be salvaged for reuse by community members every Friday at the Transfer Station. In addition, asphalt is reused for local road projects, and clean lumber not claimed for salvage gets chipped annually and incorporated as a carbon source for the County’s highly effective animal carcass composting program.
The DEQ Grant, which will be administered by Teton Valley Community Recycling, will help keep sorted loads clean at construction sites by:
• Reimbursing more that $10,000 to contractors and homeowners who deliver clean, uncontaminated lumber loads to the Transfer Station
• Funding free trash service and cardboard recycling (for appliance and finish packaging) for up to 30 eligible applicants
• Improving signage (in both English and Spanish) at job sites to prevent accidental contamination of sorted loads, especially lumber
As the DEQ grant requires quarterly updates and reports to the state, TVCR will be working with awardees to get feedback on those measures that seem to have the most impact on their job sites. In addition, TVCR will use this feedback to assist RAD Curbside (the local waste hauler) and Teton County establish new fee structures that encourage source reduction and other effective waste management strategies.
This program will officially roll out on February 25 at a County Town Hall Meeting (6:00pm at the County building in Driggs). A short educational video about the value of sorting waste will be aired, applications will be made available, and questions answered. Applications will open to all contractors, from individual DIY projects to large scale commercial contractors. TVCR, RAD and County staff will be on hand to answer questions about the incentives and refunds offered as well as sorting procedures and services.
