LAWRENCE COUNTY Recycling drop-offs set

The county war memorial will be repaired.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County's drop-off recycling program should get off the ground next month.
County commissioners opened bids Thursday for the hauling service that will pick up the recyclables. Tri-County Recycling Services of Grove City was the low bidder at a cost of $67,392 per year through 2006.
The bid specifications are being checked by Amy Jo Labi Carando, county recycling and solid waste director, and the contract will be formally awarded at a later meeting.
Labi Carando said work on special trucks and bins is ongoing. Thompson Fabricating Inc. of Wheatland is making the bins, and the two collection trucks are being built by Quality Truck Body and Equipment of Youngstown. A $1.038 million state recycling grant is paying for the work.
Throughout county
The bins will be placed throughout the county where people can drop off recyclables at any time. There will be six bins at each site, each for a different type of recycled material. The county expects to eventually have 10 sites.
Commissioner Brian Burick said the Pulaski Township building will be one drop-off point. Others will be in retail centers and at least one school district. Those locations have not been confirmed, he said.
The program is meant to supplement recycling efforts in communities with mandated recycling programs and give an alternative to those who have no recycling.
The hauling costs are going to be paid for from a $2.50- per-ton fee the county gets anytime waste from the county is put in area landfills, Labi Carando said.
Commissioner Ed Fosnaught had questioned whether Tri-County and another bidder, Waste Management, were eligible to bid on the program because both had company representatives on the Lawrence County Solid Waste Advisory Committee that rejected an alternate plan.
Fosnaught and the Lawrence County Council of Governments had wanted the Canadian-made V-Quip System. But the committee and two other county commissioners decided to have similar products made by local companies.
Labi Carando said cost projections to operate V-Quip were about $200,000 more per year. Equipment costs also were higher, she said.
Solicitor's decision
She added that the county solicitor decided that there was no conflict for either company because committee membership did not give the representatives any confidential information or competitive advantage.
In other business, Golon Masonry Restoration Inc. of Pittsburgh was the low bidder for restoration work on the county war memorial on East Washington Street.
Burick said work is expected to start Nov. 13, two days after Veterans Day. The company will repair granite slabs that have pulled away from the memorial, as well as the sidewalk. The company's bid was $19,750. An additional $1,500 will be charged if the county decides to include a gold-plated county seal in the walk leading to the memorial.
County commissioners also gave Atty. William Otto permission to continue fighting the proposed landfill near McConnell's Mill State Park, which straddles Lawrence and Butler counties.
Sechan Limestone was denied a permit by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, but it has appealed the decision to the state environmental hearing board.
Otto, who represented the county when Sechan filed its landfill application, recommended to commissioners by letter that they be part of the appeal hearings. He said there were several important factors DEP did not address in its denial. Otto wrote that he wanted to ensure those things are presented in the appeal.
cioffi@vindy.com