Kyle Hanson, Western Excelsior's business unit manager, will be the first to agree that the business of making excelsior, shaved aspen, and other erosion control products, isn't the cleanest of professions.
But, he said he's doing what he can to make things better.
On Friday, Sept. 19, Hanson opened the doors of company's operations to The Mancos Times.
"We have said we have a problem, but we are working on it," Hanson said. "We have been totally transparent during this whole process."
Hanson told the Times he was disappointed with the town's decision to begin fining the company, which employs about 105 people.
"Historically, this company has spent a lot of money trying to make this problem better," Hanson said.
As far as particulates in the air, the company's biggest concern at the moment, is straw, he said.
"Most of the particulates in the air is straw. It has such low density, it flies through the air," he said.
Residents spoke out at the Mancos Town Board meeting Sept. 10 regarding particulates and debris from the factory. Town board members directed Town Administrator Andrea Phillips to write a letter to the company stating that it needed to clean up its act or be fined as much as $1,000 per offense,
"At this time, the town finds that a nuisance exists in the form of particulates, waste straw, straw dust, sawdust and other matter that is emigrating from the Western Excelsior building and grounds," the Sept. 12 letter stated.
Hanson, however, said they are close to solving the straw problem.
"This is the straw house," Hanson announced as he walked into an enclosed industrial building filled with a bustle of activity. Forklifts were being driven around, tons of straw bales traveled down conveyer belts and came out the other side in a blanket like form as a giant sewing machine stitched it together like a giant straw quilt.
"It's one of the hardest jobs we have in the whole company," he said of the straw house.
A small crew rolled up logs of straw called wattles and then wrapped them with plastic wrap.
"We are not a super profitable business," Hanson said. In fact, the business hasn't made money in more than five years.
But despite that, the company spent $180,000 on a wattle machine that should not only lesson the amount of straw in the air, but also make the workers' lives easier. That machine is just waiting, Hanson explained, on the electrician to hook it up.
"It will remove the biggest source of particulate from the air," he said.
It will also take away the laborious job of hand rolling the straw logs.
The straw building itself processes 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of straw a year.
"There are a lot of moving pieces to this puzzle," Hanson said.
Because the company has had some difficult years, Hanson said, they are trying to make changes when they can and where they will make the biggest difference.
"You can't just spend $4 million on improvements if you aren't making it," Hanson said.
On Oct. 3, Western Excelsior will open its doors to the public for the first-ever "manufacturing day." The company will offer plant tours, refreshments, explain erosion control, explain the role of the company in Montezuma County and have interactive displays.
"Our whole industry exists because of the Clean Water Act," he said. "We are also a really big part of maintaining the health of the aspen forests here."
Hanson said he hopes to work with the town of Mancos.
"Part of the problem is we don't have an agreed upon definition of success," he said.
Western Excelsior is a 40-year-old company and a leading manufacturer of rolled erosion control products and sediment control products.
In the 1930s, the factory manufactured matches.