The Archuleta County landfill will be getting a new trash shredder that will increase its ability to shred various materials, including glass, tires and wood waste.
The Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) unanimously approved a purchase lease agreement for a Rotochopper 95 DK during its regular meeting held on Tuesday, May 19.
According to the meeting’s agenda, “Solid waste also plans to use the shredder to process all materials that enter the landfill ultimately reducing waste intake by 40% and expanding the life of our landfill.”
Earlier that day during a work session held by the BoCC, Public Works Director Mike Torres and Road and Bridge Manager Eric McRae provided information on the machine and how it will benefit the county landfill.
Commissioner Veronica Medina commented, “This is a really cool machine.”
Torres explained that the shredder “is something we haven’t used before” at the landfill, though it has used a similar product — a Tana DT40.
Torres noted that unlike the Tana machine, the Rotochopper has two high-torque planetary drives opposed to just one, and has 760 horsepower and 354,000 pounds of torque.
He also noted that it comes with water-mist dust control for shredded material coming off the conveyor belt and a magnet to sort metal.
Torres mentioned that the machine is awarded with a Sourcewell contract — a “bidhouse” for different materials/machinery, “where they do the bidding process for us, so it ensures that we are getting the lowest cost for this machinery.”
Torres also mentioned that the cost for renting the Tana machine is about $50,000 per month and that the county only uses it for one month out of the year.
The cost for the new Rotochopper machine is listed at $1,099,075, Torres noted.
“We all know that money’s kind of tight and we’re trying to do a lot of things right now,” he said, explaining this purchase request is not anticipated in this year’s budget.
He explained that the company selling the machine is willing to push out payments until 2027 to give the county the opportunity to put it in next year’s budget.
Torres then explained that a five-year lease purchase agreement is an option, which would consist of annual payments of $254,948.77 starting Jan. 1, 2027.
He also noted that there is a “pretty good fund balance” in the Solid Waste Department.
Along with the ability to extend the life of the current county landfill, McRae explained that the machine “has the potential to create revenues that are not there right now” and save air space at the landfill.
“It solves a lot of problems,” he said.
Medina noted that the machine is already at the landfill, with Torres indicating the company wants a decision soon or else the machine would be hauled off.
“I think the cost is reasonable,” Medina said.
Commissioner John Ranson commented, “I really like the idea.”
Commissioner Warren Brown noted that the landfill is an enterprise fund, meaning it generates its own revenue.
Torres also mentioned that the landfill is on its last cell to place waste.
During the meeting, Medina motioned to approve the five-year lease purchase agreement in an amount not to exceed $260,000 annually, which was seconded and unanimously approved by the BoCC.
clayton@pagosasun.com
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