new waste transfer stations may be built in dona ana county

As part of an increasing effort to collect and process both recyclables and solid waste in Dona Ana County, a move is underway to build more transfer stations to handle such materials.

South Central Solid Waste Authority, which is jointly operated by both the county and City of Las Cruces, already has one such facility up and running at 180 McCombs Road in the community of Chaparral.

That one-story, 3,400 square foot station, officially called the Chaparral Collection and Recycling Center, was opened in the spring of 2017 and serves a population in Chaparral and surrounding area of around 16,000 people.

Now county officials want to expand SCSWA’s waste collection efforts and is thinking about building as many as three more such facilities.

Last month, members of the Dona Ana Board of County Commissioners approved instructing the county’s management department to work with SCSWA on putting together an ordinance that will allow for the construction of the additional stations.

Where exactly those new facilities will be built is not yet known, but it is thought that one may go up in the northern part of the county in order to serve the village of Hatch; with another built off of Highway 70 and designed for the community of Organ and surrounding area.

A third facility would likely be built in the south Mesilla Valley, serving the communities of Berino, Chamberino, and Vado. 

When exactly the enabling ordinance for the new processing centers will be introduced has not yet been announced.

By Garry Boulard

---