Integrated Solid Waste and Recycling (ISWR) was recently awarded a $300,000 grant to purchase air knife density separator equipment aimed at making the composting program more accessible for commercial operations. The grant was awarded to Teton County through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The current system lacks a way to separate small materials like paper, plastic and foil from food. Specifically, items with PLU stickers can’t be composted. According to the staff report, the air knife density separator would capture these and other similar, unpickable items and allow a greater diversity of food types to be included in the accepted materials stream.
During one of the shortest Teton County Board of County Commissioners meetings, Natalia Macker, Wes Gardner and Greg Epstein unanimously approved the grant agreement. The special meeting on Wednesday was called specifically to approve the grant and lasted just shy of 2 minutes. Brenda Ashworth, superintendent at ISWR, appeared at the meeting virtually. “Thank you for holding a special meeting, I really appreciate you guys rearranging your schedule,” Ashworth said.