Since the Sedona Recycles Board met on April 30 to discuss its strategic plan, and voted to close some recycling dropoff sites in the Verde Valley, the recycling center has made headway on that process.

As of June 1 and 2, the recycling center closed two recycling drop-off locations in Camp Verde, including the Camp Verde Heritage Pool site and the Outpost Mall site.

According to Sedona Recycles Executive Director Jill McCutcheon, the closure process has been a smooth one for the center.

She said the Camp Verde recycling drop-off sites were the farthest from the recycling center in Sedona and required the most driving to reach, which is why they were removed first.

For the time being, to provide a recycling remedy to the community for the removal of the bins in Camp Verde, McCutcheon said additional bins have been placed at other drop-off sites in surrounding areas to Camp Verde.

“You know, it’s pretty upsetting for the people who live there, but it went very smoothly, and we relocated all of those bins that were at the Camp Verde drop-off sites to business accounts in that area, but they will only be serviced on occasions; it won’t be like we’re out there twice a day every day,” McCutcheon said. “… They can still do curbside recycling, and they also know that they can go to any of the other drop-off sites for now or go directly to the facility in Sedona.”

Currently, there are no plans to close any of the other sites outside of Sedona, as the recycling center has a contract with Yavapai County, which McCutcheon said the center has no intention of breaking. The contract with Yavapai County will end mid-November.

Sedona Recycles also has a contract with Clarkdale, which McCutcheon said the center entered into about two months ago. She said she doesn’t know how that contract will pan out.

“That may be one that we have to get out of depending on how things go with the county, but for now Clarkdale is operational,” she said.

When the center’s contract is complete with Yavapai County, and potentially with Clarkdale, it will move forward with closing remaining drop-off sites outside Sedona the best way it sees fit.

Other drop-off sites that may be subject to closure in the future include those in Rimrock, Cornville, Clarkdale and the Verde Villages.

Amid the closure of some of the center’s drop-off sites outside Sedona, the question has risen over whether the center in its entirety will close.

However, McCutcheon assured a closure is far from happening — quite the contrary, actually. The center has been ramping up its recycling efforts in the heart of home.

Since closing the sites in Camp Verde the first week of June, Sedona Recycles has been able to cut back on driving time for its truck drivers and work with business on recycling initiatives — two objectives it wished to achieve by pulling recycling services from places outside Sedona.

“What I have seen so far is that first of all we are saving about an hour a day of driving time, so that is good, and we have been able to focus more on business recycling in Sedona, and that’s good,” she said.

Closing drop-off sites outside Sedona in the future is still on the center’s agenda, but closing its facility in its entirety is not.

McCutcheon urges anyone with questions about the closure of dropoff sites or for clarity on the center’s services to call the center directly. It has an open-door policy for the community and their recyclables.

“Call us if [you] have questions. We will make it clear,” she said.

Makenna Lepowsky can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 126, or email mlepowsky@larsonnewspapers.com