Press release from the City of Visalia
While the old split cans have been out of commission for quite some time, they’ve stayed in the news as City staff has worked at the direction of the City Council on the cans disposal.
At this past Monday’s Council meeting, staff updated the City Council on their efforts to recycle the decommissioned split trash cans.
“Though the conversion process is complete, disposal of the decommissioned split cans remains an outstanding issue,” shared Jim Ross, Public Works Manager. “Over the past year the recycling industry suffered a catastrophic blow as China severely constrained their practices in regard to acquisition of recyclable plastic, and the bottom virtually fell out of the recycling market as a result. What was once a valuable commodity became a growing liability.”
With local media attention on the split cans, a nationwide trade journal ran a story on Visalia’s surplus of split cans. This, combined with local news stories, caught the attention of nearly a dozen companies. Ultimately, three proposals on recycling were received and reviewed by Public Works staff.
“The proposal by AZS Dependable Inc. was determined to be the most beneficial to City. They propose to transport the material to their warehouse in Visalia’s Industrial Park, where they will disassemble the cans, shred the segregated material, and sell the resin for remanufactured products,” added Ross.
AZS Dependable Inc.’s fee is $51,085 and City staff are working with them on the timeline of the project.