New recycling center approved in Windsor

Windsor residents will once again have a place to recycle their cans and bottles come January.

On Tuesday, the Town Council unanimously passed a two-year license agreement between Windsor and United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay to operate a self-service kiosk to allow people to recycle CRV — California Redemption Value — bottles and cans at the city’s Bluebird Center.

Council member Mike Wall attended the meeting via Zoom, as he was out of town attending a work function, he said.

In order to make the kiosk a viable use for the town property, the council had to approve a separate resolution approving a recycling facility as a temporary use outside the center, 25 Bluebird Drive. It’s not an allowed use under current zoning.

The kiosk will consist of a 10-foot-by-20-foot storage container, a pop-up tent and a box truck. It will be open three days a week for four hours a day on a 900-square-foot space.

The town’s only recycling center, Brogard Recycling, closed Aug. 29, saying it was operating at a loss because of a volatile commodity market for recyclables, according to a city staff report.

Town Community Development Director Tim Ricard said the site was chosen to minimize the impact on the new senior center that will be opening at the Bluebird Center in December.

Zero Waste Sonoma and United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay received a $1 million grant from CalRecycle to fund a pilot program focused on creating and operating small community-focused CRV centers in underserved areas of Sonoma County. Zero Waste Sonoma and UCP of the North Bay developed pilot locations in Sebastopol and Healdsburg and now Windsor.

UCP of the North Bay manages the pilot program, which buys equipment, establishes and services drop-off locations, sorts material at the Petaluma Recycling Center and pays customers on-site, according to Ricard’s report.

Betsy Mallace of Windsor told the council the recycling center is “a service that’s really needed in Windsor” and the Bluebird center “is the perfect place for this to be located.”

Council member Deb Fudge and Sam Salmon both mentioned memories of being involved in early recycling efforts. Salmon said that in 1972 he had a recycling center in his front yard in Camp Meeker that consisted of two 55-gallon steel barrels for people to bring their cans and bottles.

Fudge said that right out of college she was part of a lobbying effort on behalf of an early version of the Bottle Bill in 1982 that eventually established recycling centers throughout the state in 1986. She chairs Zero Waste Sonoma, a regional government agency operating programs to reduce landfill waste in Sonoma County.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5209.