After tomorrow, EDS Waste Solutions’ transfer station and recycling center will be closed, leaving the company with only one remaining foothold in the community.
The Evergreen-based company will continue to operate the recycling center behind King Soopers at 1173 Bergen Parkway, said EDS co-owner Preston Loos.
“As of right now, it’s a desire of ours and of King Soopers to keep that facility going,” Loos said.
For the past two years, the center has been a free, open drop-off site for recyclable cardboard, glass, plastic and paper, with . Loos said that will change over the next month or so to on-site collection and processing by one, full-time employee.
“We’re basically removing all the containers behind King Soopers now and everything will be handled inside the building,” Loos said, referring to a building behind the grocery store. “That is how we’re going to keep hours.”
Loos said most operating hours will likely be Thursday through Monday, and possibly a few hours Tuesdays and Wednesdays, depending on community needs.
The EDS transfer station at 5801 County Road 73 — which also offered free recycling drop-off, in addition to household trash and industrial waste collection — is closing at the request of . Denver Mountain Parks notified EDS about a year ago that it would be reclaiming the 3.5 acres of land for integration into its 520-acre Cub Creek Park over the next two or three years.
Denver Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Angela Casias said EDS’ transfer station was in violation of the deed for the land with the U.S. Forest Service. However, EDS was allowed to operate there because as the trash collector for Denver Mountain Parks, it was seen as a benefit to the park system. Casias said that when Denver decided to sign an agreement with a new trash service provider, that exception no longer existed.
“This is land that was not intended for this purpose, so it’s really out of our hands as far as what happens,” she said.
, purchased EDS’ trash and recycling collection, said Waste Management communications specialist Lara Rezzarday. The recycling center at King Soopers is EDS’s only operation as of Oct. 1.
With the transfer station closing, EDS anticipates about a 10 percent increase in the traffic that currently takes its recycling to the site behind King Soopers, from around 73 tons per month to 80-85 tons per month.
That increase will be a benefit rather than a strain, he said.
“If we can reach 85 tons a month, then that will increase the likelihood of us staying there,” he said.
Loos said he will try to keep the recycling center drop-off free for the time being, but he does not rule out the possibility of a fee if that is the only way the facility can stay afloat.
“This is a completely new thing in the way we’re going to be operating moving forward,” he said. “This is a trial run. We’re trying to identify how we can make this sustainable.”
Josie Klemaier: 303-954-2465, jklemaier@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JosieKlemaier
