Key changes will start June 1 in trash and recycling collection by the Yampa Valley’s largest waste hauler, Twin Enviro Apex.

The changes will expand the types of plastic containers collected, change waste collection days for many residential wheel cart customers, and increase recycling collection to weekly for more than 2,000 residential customers.

During a tour of the materials recovery facility at Milner managed by Twin Enviro Apex, General Manager Lacie Coupe explained the company will start accepting on June 1 plastic containers labeled 1-7 after many years of public education to only recycle nos. 1 and 2 plastics. The company transfers recycling to the large Waste Management-owned Denver Recycling Center on Franklin Street on the north side of Denver, which accepts 1-7 plastic containers, Coupe explained.

Twin Enviro Apex also is working toward state goals to increase recycling diversion rates. Recycling collection operations will be boosted by statewide subsidies when the Colorado Extended Producer Responsibility Act becomes operational some time from mid-2026 to early 2027, experts say.

Coupe emphasized that many plastic items are still not recyclable in co-mixed collection. The general manager looked through a load of recycling collected in southern Routt County and dropped Tuesday afternoon on the tipping floor at the small recycling center in Milner. Although the load looked relatively clean for contaminated items, Coupe pulled out various items that cannot be recycled such as plastic hangers, Styrofoam containers, straws, food-soiled jars, napkins, and thin plastic film or bags.

The majority of the additional plastic containers that will be possible to recycle after June 1 through the Twin Enviro Apex recycling stream are labeled number 5, such as yogurt cups, butter tubs and various lunch meat plastic boxes or produce clamshells.

SRC Recycle and Refuse – a smaller, family-owned waste company based in Yampa – has collected recycling weekly and accepted 1-7 plastic containers since 2013, according to Tammy Delto, SRC account manager. SRC transports recycling to the large Eagle County Solid Waste and Recycling center.

Alicia Archibald, city of Steamboat Springs community recycling coordinator, said plastic containers labeled inside the mobius loop with numbers 3 and 4 are very uncommon, but she is happy the largest local hauler will accept all plastic containers to keep out of the landfill.

“I am a fan of increasing the plastics because it reduces confusion for the consumer,” Archibald said. “If plastics 1-7 have markets, even if they are not strong markets or don’t pay a lot of money, the goal is to keep it out of the landfill whenever possible.”

Coupe said about 60% of the residential wheel cart customers within the city of Steamboat Springs will have recycling collection increased to weekly frequency starting June 1. About 40% of Steamboat residential customers already have weekly recycling pickup. Coupe said comprehensive weekly pickup is predicted to increase overall recycling rates by 10% based on past experience in other communities. She noted some recycling bins overflow with only bimonthly pickup, and then customers generally put excess recycling in the trash.

“There are around 4,000 residential customers in the city limits of Steamboat and nearby residential developments,” Coupe noted of the company’s service. “Increasing the service level to weekly collection of single-stream material will increase diversion and bring consistency, frequent accessibility and less confusion for residents and visitors.”

Apex purchased and combined two previous waste companies in summer 2024. Neighborhoods that still have two days a week of trash collection from trucks from the previous two companies will move to one combined pickup day per week after June 1. Coupe said a vast majority of wheel cart customers also will have a new service day of the week.

“In the reroute we are reducing duplicative truck traffic through neighborhoods, and through efficiencies gained, we are able to remove a truck from service and reduce resource usage of fuel, oil, tires, etc. and ultimately reduce emissions and environmental impact,” Coupe said.

Another significant change for Twin Enviro Apex is the revamping of the materials recovery facility in Milner, starting June 1 and lasting for about 10 weeks. The current Revolution system prototype machinery that was installed in 2015 requires a staff of six employees who hand-sort materials off a circling conveyer belt. The remodel will create a less sorting-intensive operations and be more efficient for the increased volume of collected recycling, which currently stands at about 3,500 tons per year, Coupe said.

With the combined volume of collected recycling after the purchase of the two competing companies, coupled with growth in Routt County, the Milner recycling center operations have “outgrown” use of the Revolution machinery, Coupe said.

Due to the frequency of online ordering and deliveries, sometimes called “the Amazon effect,” about 50% of the recycling at Twin Enviro Apex is cardboard, Coupe said.

While the Milner recycling facility is being reconfigured for a first phase of work estimated at $1 million, all recycling will be trucked directly from the Steamboat transfer station for recycling processing in Denver.

Recycling service will remain every other week for Twin Enviro Apex in rural areas of Routt County as well as in Hayden and Oak Creek that have town-managed single hauler contracts, Coupe said.

For the recycling fact geeks in the valley, Coupe outlined the recycling values with current market conditions. She ranked the recyclable materials starting with highest value: aluminum, steel and tin cans that are most efficient to process for reuse; cardboard due to high volumes collected; mixed paper; number 1-2 plastic containers; 3-7 plastic containers; and glass containers that break even financially due to transport costs of the heavier material.

After working for the waste hauler for six years, Coupe emphasized that all recyclable materials are transported to processing vendors for recycling.

“We live a long rumor that recycling goes to the landfill, and that is not true,” Coupe said.

Twin Enviro Waste previously announced increased pricing, which Coupe said is related to increased business costs such as labor, fuel, parts and fleet insurance. As part of service price increase, the company will offer trash wheel carts in either 65-gallon or the current 95-gallon size, with no extra cost for the bear-resistant styles, Coupe said.