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It’s Not Easy Being Green: Local Recycling Programs Face Challenges

Photo by Heather Ziegler Ohio County Solid Waste Authority recycling containers at Oglebay Park’s Site 1 are clearly marked for proper disposal of recyclable items.

WHEELING — Going green is not as easy as it looks or sounds. Just ask Tammy Bonar, executive director of the Ohio County Solid Waste Authority.

Bonar said lately it’s been a challenge when it comes to the county’s recycling efforts because of contamination of some of the recycling containers. The SWA provides drop-off recycling dumpsters at various sites in the county where the public can take designated recyclables. The locations for recycling are at Site 1 in Oglebay Park; on U.S. 40 in Triadelphia at the Chris Miller warehouse; at 79 Peters Run Road in Wheeling; and at 166 Clearview Ave.

Meanwhile, in Marshall County, Moundsville’s city council was forced to announce that their recycling facility was closed indefinitely as a result of the continued misuse of the city’s recycling facility. Several dumpsters were on hand at the city’s street department building to accept recyclables from Moundsville’s residents.

However, city manager Deanna Hess said the continued use of the recycling service to dispose of garbage led to the city closing the facility until the city could find a way to avert misuse.

“People were bringing in household garbage, and making it contaminated,” Hess said Friday. “As of now, we have removed the dumpsters until further notice. It’s closed until we decide what we’re going to do.”

The same thing is happening in Ohio County.

“What we are seeing is people are mixing household garbage in with the recyclables,” said Bonar. “What they don’t understand is that if even one thing is dumped in there that doesn’t belong, it’s considered contaminated and the whole thing will be dumped.”

It then costs the county money to have the contaminated materials disposed of at the landfill.

Among the items collected at the sites in Ohio County are paper goods including newspaper, brown paper bags, office paper, magazines and non-confidential mail. Books are not accepted nor are grocery bags, especially any colored bags.

Also accepted are clean tin, aluminum and steel cans; plastics such as milk jugs, water bottles, detergent, yogurt and butter containers; clean, flattened cardboard, construction paper, cereal boxes, shoe boxes and other paper boxes.

Ohio County contracts with Green Star, a clean recovery system located at Neville Island in Pennsylvania, Bonar said. Green Star only accepts clean, appropriate recyclable materials. Bonar said Green Star is getting stricter about what it accepts for its recycling program.

“We cannot accept colored bags or Styrofoam and we ask that the food containers and jugs be rinsed out, crushed and the lids put back on the jugs after you crush them,” Bonar said. “You really need to take a look at the containers at the site and make sure you put things in the correct containers. If not, we have a contamination problem.”

Republic Services, a national firm specializing in recycling and non-hazardous solid waste collections, contracts with the Solid Waste Authority to pick up the recyclables and transport them to the Green Star facilities.

Earlier this month, Republic issued a letter to its customers regarding contaminated containers. Company officials noted the majority of recyclables collected in the United States are transported to China for final processing.

The letters states: “Recently, the Chinese government implemented stringent new laws that prevent importing contaminated recycling. Due to this increased scrutiny, our local processing facilities are forced to change their internal process to prevent contamination. These local processing facilities are implementing zero tolerance policies pertaining to contamination.”

Republic officials warned that no recyclables would accepted that contain food or liquid waste, Styrofoam, shrink wrap, cleaning gloves, black or colored trash bags.

Moundsville’s recycling service had been open five days a week before council eventually had it open all seven days. Now, it’s not open at all.

“It’s closed until we can negotiate with (Republic), see what we can do differently,” said Hess. “There’s people coming from all over, putting their household garbage in also. We can’t monitor everyone that comes through that gate.”

Hess said she hopes the city would be able to fine violators. City Attorney Tom White was unable to confirm if they had the authority to do so.

At Moundsville’s street department, a sign was erected stating that recycling service was temporarily closed until further notice.

Meanwhile, Bonar said the Ohio County recycling program containers are emptied into recycling trucks that pick up items from other local organizations that also recycle. If any of those collections are contaminated, the entire truck of recyclable has to be dumped and rendered unusable by Green Star.

In the past, Bonar has found everything from a bathroom sink to a Christmas tree dumped at the recycling sites.

“When that happens it costs us to take it to the dump,” Bonar said. “We have a good program, but only if people follow the rules.”

For details about the Ohio County recycling program, call Bonar at 304-234-3884.

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