A decades-long recycler with a bad back and steep driveway, Routt County resident Alan Levinstone found it easy to pull his Toyota up his driveway to load up his recycling.

Levinstone, or his wife, then drove the recycling items several miles to the Downhill Drive waste transfer station owned by Apex Waste Solutions, formerly owned by Waste Management. The cost to drop off recycling used to be free for Apex customers; but as of Jan. 1, Apex raised the price to a minimum $30 charge.

Staff at Steamboat Springs, Routt County, nonprofit Yampa Valley Sustainability Council and the newspaper have heard from multiple frustrated residential and commercial recycling customers that the new fee is too high.

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Apex representatives note customers can still drive to the Milner Landfill and drop off recycling for free, but customers say that is inconvenient and adds an environmental cost.

“By making people pay for recycling now at Downhill Drive, I predict people will just combine recycling and trash into their trash containers, which are picked up weekly,” Levinstone said.

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Apex Waste Solutions purchased both of the Yampa Valley operations of Twin Enviro Services and Waste Management in 2024.

Multiple Routt County trash customers of Apex said they called to ask about pricing to add recycling pick-up at their homes and were informed the service would be an additional $35 per month for recycling pickup, which is higher than the approximately $34 per month for trash pickup without the additional rental cost of a bear-resistant trash container.

Yampa Valley Sustainability Council Executive Director Michelle Stewart said Apex Waste Solutions officially joined the Waste Working Group of the Routt County Climate Action Plan Collaborative last year.

“Apex owners did share their deliberations to increase the cost of recycling at the Waste Working Group at the end of last year, which the group discussed as potentially serving as a barrier to CAP goals to increase diversion,” Stewart said. “The working group/CAP were not informed about the $30 drop fee before it rolled out; nor its rationale.”

Melissa Kirr, board president of the statewide nonprofit Recycle Colorado, said pricing for recycling varies throughout the state and the country.

“A lot of times a free recycling drop site is subsidized or provided through a rebate or grant program,” Kirr said. “There can be a difference between the for-profit and nonprofit way of working because recycling is not free.”

Lacie Coupe, general manager of Apex Twin Enviro in Steamboat, commented in an email Friday: “Apex Twin Enviro incurs significant costs to provide an employee staffed Drop Site located at 2701 Downhill Dr. and to transfer and process or dispose of waste and recyclables that are brought there. Costs which the company has been bearing at a financial loss.”

“We continue to support the Drop Site as a convenient option available to Steamboat residents and visitors to dispose of their waste and recycling, but a reasonable charge is important for the long-term sustainability of this recycling and disposal option,” Coupe said. “We believe the current rate charged at the facility is required to support diversion and proper waste collection for our community, but we’re open to making changes and are working with the city, including meeting with them next week.”

In April 2023, a Drop Site Feasibility Study for Steamboat Springs and Routt County was completed by consultant LBA Associates.

“Based on the study findings, a countywide facility is recommended,” the study noted. “As an alternative, if city and/or county leadership determine that the development of a drop site is not feasible at this time, the county may wish to consider the potential for interim recycling at satellite drop sites throughout Routt County. In which case, consideration for a new, multi-material facility could still proceed at a slower pace.”

Routt County Environmental Health Director Scott Cowman noted in July of the recommended facility: “Finding a location is the biggest barrier at this point. After that, it’s figuring out how to cover costs.”

Various other Colorado mountain counties such as Pitkin, Lake and Summit Counties offer free recycling drop-off at county landfills, some of which are supported by taxes, according to experts at Eco-Cycle in Boulder.

Recycling experts point to funding resources scheduled to come on board during 2026 through Colorado’s Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act. The program requires companies that sell products in packaging to fund a statewide recycling system to recycle those packaging materials.

Alicia Archibald, the city’s community recycling coordinator, noted the recycling diversion rate within the city is 14%, as tracked through waste hauler data since late 2022, but that is below the statewide level of 15.5% for municipal solid waste recycling in 2023.

Routt County resident Lee White, who lives three miles outside of Steamboat, said he also was frustrated to learn of the sharp increase to drop off recycling in town. Lee called to price recycling for his home and was told the $35 monthly fee would include recycling pick-up twice a month if the route manager could confirm his address was eligible.

“It costs companies money to take the recycling somewhere; I get that,” White said. “It seems like a message to people that this company really does not want to help you recycle. It’s very disconcerting that what was free is now quite expensive, and it’s a disincentive for all of us.”