LAWRENCE COUNTY Officials devise recycling plan

Some funding will come from a grant; enforcing landfill fees would raise more, a commissioner says.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County Commissioner Ed Fosnaught is hoping to come up with a solution to the county's recycling woes.
Fosnaught said he and Norb Kendall, Wilmington Township supervisor, are working on a plan to institute a countywide recycling program.
The county got a $1.3 million state grant to institute a V-Quip system, a program that has specially equipped bins placed throughout the county to collect recyclables. The system hasn't been started.
Other county officials want to institute the recycling program with different equipment, but Fosnaught fears the county will lose the grant if V-Quip is not used. County officials say the grant pays only for the equipment, but not the labor to collect and recycle the material.
Raising funds
Fosnaught said he thinks money to operate the program can be generated by being more vigilant about charging landfills that take county garbage.
The county charges a $2.50 tipping fee. He said only two of the 11 landfills that take county garbage are licensed by the county and are paying the fee. Others are either not paying the fee or paying it to other counties for Lawrence garbage, he said.
Fosnaught said his recycling plan also will include turning over the functions of the county's department of recycling and solid waste to the Lawrence County Council of Governments or a new authority. Fosnaught said he has no timetable for when his plan will be ready to be considered by the other two county commissioners.