After just three day of resumed operations, CRV buybacks suspended at local recycling center

EUREKA, Calif. (KIEM)-Humboldt Waste Management Authority has suspended CRV buyback operations until further notice – traffic congestion was partly to blame for the closure.  

HWMA’s Executive Director Jill Duffy says, the traffic congestion caused by the demand for CRV services was a safety issue. 

“So our transfer station customers were unable access our site as well as customers dropping off E-waste and Green-waste and our franchise trucks and semi-trucks were having difficulty getting in the facility,” she said. “The traffic was detoured because of the congestion and that resulted in significant safety risks to the public and to and out employees.” 

Duffy’s says, congestion also reduced emergency access to neighboring businesses.  

The recycling facility resumed CRV operations Monday – on the second day, vehicles had up to a three hour wait, just to get into the gate.  

According to Duffy, it wasn’t the number of transactions staff had to contend with but rather the quantity of CRV material that each vehicle brought in to sort.   

Duffy’s says HWMA’s facility inundated with customers due to the permanent closures of surrounding Humboldt recycling centers.   

“Our closure is the fact that the other three locations in Humboldt County, (customers) have noticed that they are closing permanently,” she said.  “The long term answer is not with one location but multiple redemption locations for customers, so they can conveniently redeem their containers as the program was initially designed.” 

The Eureka recycling center is open for all business, expect for CRV buybacks Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. – with time set aside for seniors and people who are immunocompromised from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.  

For more information, call (707) 268-8680.