The amount of materials recycled through Carbon County's Solid Waste Department has quadrupled since the program began four years ago, department officials say.
From the 25 tons a month collected when the program started in 2001, it has grown to an average of 100 tons a month, county Solid Waste Director Duane Dellecker said.
In June the program collected 85.5 tons — 30,000 pounds of cardboard, 70,000 pounds of newspaper, 42,000 pounds of magazines, 4,000 pounds of cans, 12,000 pounds of glass and 13,000 pounds of plastic.
Dellecker said recycling saved residents $6,800 in landfill fees — or about $81,600 a year they don't have to pay to trash haulers to remove their garbage.
A fee is assessed for each ton of waste deposited in a landfill. The average cost to dispose of garbage is $68 a ton, with $8 of that split between the state and county as a landfill tax.
And instead of putting garbage in the landfill, the county has ''tons of commodity worth $4,000 to $5,000 a month,'' Dellecker said.
The county sells the recyclable materials to industry. Recycled newspaper is sold monthly to Marcal, the international manufacturer of paper towels and napkins, and often ends up back in the homes of residents who recycled it, Dellecker said.
Dellecker said plastic and aluminum cans are highly reusable. He said glass is more difficult to dispose.
Overall, the program takes in up to $60,000 a year selling the materials. Dellecker said there is no profit and the money is used to operate the program, which is not subsidized by the county.
The Solid Waste Department has about 80 recycling bins at 13 locations in the county. Recyclables are removed weekly, processed and sold or given away.
Dellecker said the recycling program has been so successful for a number of reasons. ''There's a good deal of people that care about the environment out there,'' he said.
He said his office has also done extensive outreach by producing 30,000 recycling newsletters a year — printed on recycled paper, of course. This year the program gave out 9,800 household-sized bins to promote recycling.
Program directors also conduct an annual phone book recycling program at elementary schools. Thousands of books are shredded each year and donated to farmers to be used as animal bedding.
Because of increased recycling, the county program has bought a new truck to haul materials. Dellecker said the program began with one full-time and one part-time employee, and now has two full-time and two part-time workers.
Program officials recently added another plastic bin at the Franklin Township recycling site and two cardboard bins and one plastic bin in Kidder Township.
The county has large blue bins in Banks, Mahoning, Franklin, Kidder, Lehigh, Lower Towamensing, Packer and Towamensing townships, and in Beaver Meadows, Bowmanstown, Nesquehoning, Palmerton and Parryville.
''Volume pays in this business,'' Dellecker said. ''The program is just really doing remarkably well and that's a testament to the people and residents of Carbon County.''
Sarah Fulton is a freelance writer.
Source: mcall.com/news
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