Town, county create recycling advisory board
Taos is one step closer to reopening its recycling center after the Town of Taos Council and the Taos County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously in their first joint meeting since the new town administration was elected in March to create a “Joint Recycling Advisory Board.”
But despite the push forward, the timing of the reopening still remains uncertain.
The advisory board will consist of 11 members, with the four town council members and the five county commissioners choosing a board appointee (the mayor and commission chair will appoint the last two members). Two of the 11 members are required to be under the age of 19 to provide for a youth voice.
“We would like to get the recycling center open. There are questions and concerns from all of us. We are not recycling experts,” Taos Mayor Pascual Maestas said as he opened the discussion. “So the first step was to establish a joint recycling advisory board to help us figure out how to operate a vibrant and efficient recycling center and look to the community to help us.”
He said he hopes the creation of the board will bring innovative ideas to the issue of recycling. “We have some very innovative projects that are happening right here in Taos County, like TiLT, who are using those plastics for construction, and they are not just crushing them and transporting them somewhere else,” he said. “That, again, is the point of the recycling board.”
There was some back-and-forth between several members about whether or not reopening the center was indeed a positive thing for the environment. Council member
Nathanial Evans questioned just how sustainable recycling actually was. “I know that the next item that we’re about to discuss is recycling. Has your coalition done any research on the carbon footprint or the environmental impact that recycling has?” Evans asked a presenter just prior to the recycling resolution discussion.
District 4 Commissioner AnJanette Brush and newly elected town council member Marietta Fambro both said they hoped to see a reasonable timeline for the reopening. “Could we start to put in some timelines for this, like when the board will be [ready] for this conversation?” asked Brush.
“I agree with Ms. Brush. Let’s put in a timeline,” said Fambro.
District 3 Commissioner and Chair Darlene Vigil felt the same way. “Recycling, obviously, is a big concern. We just want to make sure that there is a timeline,” she said. In the end, commissioners and council members were told to
come back with their nominations by the next joint meeting at the end of May.
Fambro questioned whether or not the creation of the board might be a step backwards: “I didn’t know if this was part of what was agreed prior, but this is starting all from scratch.”
“It is kind of starting from scratch, but turbo-charged, because we’ve got knowledge and experience and some funds and a lot of potential,” said Brush.
Town council member Darien Fernandez said it was time to think outside of the box. “We heard loud and clear prior to the election… that people want to see recycling in this community. And they want to look at every option that’s possible,” he said. For constituents, he added, it was about “mitigating, to the extent we can, the impact of the carbon footprint that comes from recycling and trucking stuff into the middle of the desert.”
Fernandez went on to make a motion to pass the resolution establishing the Joint Recycling Advisory Board, seconded by council member Corilia Ortega. The resolution passed unanimously.