Vermont county approves $26M recycling facility

Voters in Chittenden County, Vermont, have approved a new recycling center in Williston, reports Seven Days.

The Chittenden Solid Waste District, which was seeking approval to borrow $22 million to build a replacement for its aging material recovery facility (MRF), reported that more than 80 percent of voters favored the measure.

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The current facility is described as a “windowless metal structure in a Williston industrial park,” handling roughly 55 percent of all recycling in the state. Officials say the building is too old to be updated with more modern sorting equipment.

By constructing a new MRF, the district says it can significantly improve its recycling efforts.

With voter approval, the district is planning a new, larger $26 million facility on land it owns about 2 miles from the existing MRF. As reported by Seven Days, it plans to repay the bonds over 25 years out of revenue from the sale of recycled material.