Ongoing work to update and remodel the recycling portion of the county-owned Ohio Gulch Transfer Station, west of state Highway 75 between Ketchum and Hailey, is nearly complete, an official with the Southern Idaho Solid Waste (SISW) district said Tuesday.
This week, workers are putting the final touches on the new Blaine County Resource Recovery Center, the district's public education coordinator, Robin Baumgartner, said.
"They're still tying up and few odds and ends," Baumgartner said.
In addition to painting, workers will also be training to operate the facility's new bailer for the next few weeks in time for the expected reopening by the third week of June, she said.
She said the new bailer is significantly larger and faster than the older one and can automatically tie the bales of recycled materials.
"Otherwise, our guys would have to run wires through the machine and tie it themselves," she said.
Baumgartner said planning for the remodeling project began in 2005 and the official groundbreaking took place late last fall.
Since then, workers have expanded the size of the building by 50 percent, added skylighting to bring in more light and improve the working environment, and reinforced both the building's walls and the drop-off point where trucks deliver materials destined to be recycled.
The drop-off point had been an earthen embankment where trucks dumped their loads off to workers waiting below. Now, the area has been strengthened with concrete reinforcements, Baumgartner said.
"There's more protection," she said. "You don't have to worry about the bank giving way."
She said other work has improved the flow of traffic and fixed damage to the existing facility.
During the remodeling project, a small portion of the materials sent to the facility to be recycled have had to be dumped in with the trash bound Milner Butte Regional Landfill, she said.
Still, she said, most materials not immediately recycled have been stockpiled at Ohio Gulch. The main items being stockpiled include cardboard and newspaper, she said.
