A pile of refuse sits behind the front gate of the shuttered Blue Mountain Transfer Station on Blue Mountain Road east of Port Angeles on Thursday. — Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

A pile of refuse sits behind the front gate of the shuttered Blue Mountain Transfer Station on Blue Mountain Road east of Port Angeles on Thursday. — Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Blue Mountain Transfer Station to reopen for recycling

PORT ANGELES — The fire-ravaged Blue Mountain Transfer Station will reopen for recycling-only service Saturdays beginning Jan 4.

The transfer station at 1469 Blue Mountain Road has been closed since a Nov. 10 fire gutted the business office and a roof that covered large waste and recycling containers.

The facility between Port Angeles and Sequim is owned by Clallam County and operated by Waste Connections under a contract with the city of Port Angeles.

City officials announced Thursday that the Blue Mountain station would be open for recycling collection only on Saturdays next month between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Nine days after the fire, Clallam County commissioners directed public works staff to set up a construction trailer to serve as a temporary replacement for the business office.

At the time, Public Works Administrative Director Bob Martin said it would take about three months to set up a temporary facility because Waste Connections needed to replace computers and scales that were destroyed or badly damaged in the fire.

Martin was not immediately reachable Thursday.

Before the fire, the Blue Mountain Transfer Station accepted waste and recyclables Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

City officials said garbage service and normal hours would resume after the county replaces the building.

No date has been set for a full reopening.

Trash and cardboard could be seen behind the closed gate to the transfer station Thursday.

The Blue Mountain Transfer Station collects about 1,200 tons of garbage and 700 tons of recyclables per year, Martin has said.

While the Blue Mountain facility is closed, east county residents can take their garbage and recyclables to the Port Angeles Regional Transfer Station at 3501 W. 18th St. on the west side of the city.

The Port Angeles waste-disposal facility is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It will be closed on New Year’s Day.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsula

dailynews.com.

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