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June 10, 2010

Shenango Recycling, Part 1: New program to start in September

Debbie Wachter Morris New Castle News

NEW CASTLE — (First of two parts)



Shenango residents no longer have blue bins at the township building for recycling.

However, a new program — set to begin in the township Sept. 1 — will provide curbside garbage and recycling collections for everyone, using one company.

Until then, Shenango residents can continue to use the blue bins elsewhere in the county.

Jerry Zona, Lawrence County Recycling and Solid Waste director, said he hopes Shenango’s program will set the pace for other municipalities in the county that are required by law to have curbside recycling.

The program will enable residents to recycle more types and more volume of materials using 95-gallon two-wheeled carts, and it promises to be less expensive than existing garbage and recycling plans for most residents.

The township has entered a five-year contract with Allied Waste Services of Youngstown, which will be the sole hauler.

The program was explained to more than 100 people who attended a public meeting last night at the township fire hall.



COMPLIANCE

Since 1988, state law has required communities of more than 5,000 to recycle at the curb. However, Zona pointed out, Shenango’s population density allowed it to be exempt until the 2000 census.

Shenango had 7,633 residents according to the 2000 census and its population density had changed.

Township secretary-treasurer Brian Tanner explained that until now, Shenango has allowed residents to choose and contract with their own garbage haulers, but many have not been participating in the recycling portion.

Instead they have been depositing recyclables into the county’s blue bins, which were removed from the township building grounds last week after complaints of people leaving a mess around the site.

Some residents are not recycling at all.

Lorraine Ranchod, assistant recycling and solid waste director, pointed out state law gives municipalities the authority to structure their own recycling and garbage programs, but Shenango and other local mandated communities have left it up to the residents to choose their own haulers.



WHY SHENANGO?

John McGoran, Allied’s district municipal services manager, explained the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection questioned how Shenango was running its program.

State guidelines designate how much waste should be recycled, he said, and Shenango’s program wasn’t meeting those standards.

But Shenango is not alone. In some communities, the DEP has withheld municipalities’ performance grants, which are based on tonnage of recyclable materials, Zona pointed out.

“This is coming about in many areas,” McGoran said. “DEP picks its places where it tries to make things work, and Shenango was one of these communities where it was putting enforcement pressure to get things done.”

According to Tanner, the township supervisors — working with Zona’s office and state-grant-funded consultant Michelle Nestor — advertised for bids to hire one hauler that would service the entire township.

Currently, Allied, Tri-County Industries and Waste Management Resources Inc. all have residential contracts in the township. Each company’s fee structure is different and there is no uniformity in the types of recyclables being collected, Zona explained, adding, “The township saw the need to have the same service across the board.”

All three companies submitted bids and Allied’s was the lowest, Tanner said.



HOW IT WORKS

McGoran explained that residents will be issued 95-gallon carts for recycling. They will replace the basket-like bins the county issued when recycling started.

Separate carts for garbage will be issued, with options of two different sizes and costs.

Similar programs are in place in Meadville, Hermitage and Cranberry and in Butler County, he said.

“Thousands of places across the country are going to carts,” he said, including Charlotte, N.C., which bought more than 200,000 of them.

A typical home produces about 1.3 tons of refuse a year without recycling, McGoran pointed out, and communities using the system have found the amount of refuse has been reduced by 20 to 40 percent.

(Tomorrow: How will the new recycling program work, and what are the costs involved?)

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