7Recycling in the Flathead is becoming more difficult. Right now only one facility in the Valley takes plastic, and that is the City of Whitefish Recycling Center, which is for Whitefish residents only. Nevertheless, for many materials, you can find a drop-off site even if you don’t live in Whitefish. Here is where you can take some common materials:

Facility paper & cardboard plastic #1 & #2 aluminum cans & clean foil tin/steel cans – separate from aluminum
County Drop-off sites x x
County Solid Waste – Land Fill x x
City of Whitefish Recycling Center

for Whitefish Residents only

x x x x
Valley Recycling & 

Albertsons & Smiths

x
Pacific Steel & Recycling x x x

For information on where to recycle other materials and how to sort recyclables, and to view a map showing recycling locations in the Valley, visithttp://www.wastenotproject.org/  This site also offers a handy printable recycling brochure. Be sure you get the most recent “corrected 2018” version.  

Notice that glass is not on this chart. Below is the latest on glass recycling in the Flathead.

Glass Recycling Update from Citizens for a Better Flathead

From Citizens Newsletter

     We’ve come to an agreement with Glacier National Park Lodges (GNPL) and New World Recycling to keep glass recycling available for Flathead residents through the end of the year! We (Citizens) will be sponsoring the rent for the land where the glass crusher is located. GNPL will continue to sponsor the pickup and processing of glass collected at their public site in Columbia Falls [for location, see map mentioned above]. In exchange, New World has agreed to continue to process glass from this site for the rest of 2018!

     Please note, New World will NOT be resuming their curbside routes, nor will they be collecting glass at their site south of Kalispell. This agreement is ONLY for the Xanterra GNPL site in Columbia Falls. Please bring only CLEAN glass bottles and jars to the bins located there for recycling.

     While this is a short-term solution, we’re hopeful that it gives the community more breathing room to come up with an answer for glass recycling. Glass is one of the only items we can recycle locally, which is more important than ever before as we continue to watch global recycling markets crash. Crushed recycled glass can be used as an aggregate in cement and roadways as well as landscaping material. Combined with the growth occurring in the valley, we believe there can be a strong local market for this product if our local cities and county prioritize the use of recycled glass in construction projects.