Growing by Heaps and Bounds: Moundsville Collects More Than 3 Tons of Paper, Cardboard for Recycling
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Five weeks after the city began accepting paper recyclables, more than 6,000 pounds of refuse has been collected and saved from the landfill, in a promising start for Moundsville's recycling program.
City Manager Rick Healy said Thursday that participation in the Saturday morning recycling drop-off has increased each week, since beginning at the start of May. On Thursday, Healy said, the first Dumpster roll-off was held, in which the 30-yard receptacle was emptied of 6,600 pounds -- more than three tons.
"That's 3.3 tons of paper and cardboard that's going to be recycled, as opposed to going to the landfill, which is great," Healy said. "The people are using it, and we've really not done any marketing for it, other than posting on Facebook."
Healy said the city is planning to put together some marketing efforts, such as magnets and other distributed trinkets, in time.
David Bougher, who was hired as a part-time recycling coordinator, had spent the previous few weeks getting set up and getting his feet wet, on top of working his own, full-time job in addition to helping launch the recycling program.
Healy said he spoke with the Moundsville Rotary Club recently, espousing the ecological and financial benefits of the recycling program. Rather than the city paying out to dump the paper and cardboard in the landfill, they save — both in a green sense, and a greenbacks sense — by processing the material at a recycling plant.
"You can look at it from a totally environmental standpoint, and it's a win. We took a 30-yard rolloff that, six months ago, would have gone to a landfill," Healy said. "But from a fiscal standpoint, that's 3.3 tons of material that we don't have to pay to tip at the landfill. It benefits us as well, by not having to pay for as much weight to go to the landfill."
Healy recognized that, compared to the total weight of garbage being dumped, the weight of the recyclables was relatively minor. However, he was happy that it was a good start for the city.
Funding for the recycling program comes from a grant from the W.Va. Department of Environmental Protection, including the recycling fees, Bougher's salary, and other costs of the program.
Down the road, Healy said he hopes to show the DEP that the recycling program is a worthwhile investment and receive the grant again, and from there, move onto recycling other materials, such as glass and plastics.
"Because the grant's paying for everything, right now, we're saving everything," he said. "… One of Dave's responsibilities will be to look into plastics, glass and metal, but we want to get this part of it down pat before we stretch into that. Part of his job is looking into who we can get those products to."
Moundsville's recycling program operates from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Accepted materials include envelopes, corrugated cardboard boxes, office paper, junk mail, card stock, catalogues, newspapers, phone books, and cereal, pasta, and other food boxes, with the bags removed.
Plastics, food wastes, wax-coated cardboard, napkins, paper cups, and several other kids are not accepted. A full list of accepted and prohibited materials is available at cityofmoundsville.com, and a sign listing accepted material is posted at the recycling center at 3 Brown Street, the former Kittle Hauling property.