RECYCLING Board gets $455,624 to inspect landfills

The Green Team also wants to use TV ads to increase recycling efforts.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The policy committee of Mahoning County's Reuse and Recycling Division has authorized payment of $455,624 to the county health board for the inspection of landfills and water testing for homes near those landfills.
Mary Helen Smith, director of the health board's solid waste program, said Wednesday the money is used for salaries for board inspectors and equipment. The health board annually contracts with the recycling division for the service, she added.
Water samples are tested for people living within a mile of the landfill, and the sampling is done twice a year. Right now, 141 people participate in the sampling program, Smith said.
"On average, we inspect the open landfills twice a week. We test the closed landfills once a month, and we test the [county's] construction and demolition site once a week," she said.
The health board budget for the work essentially has remained the same since 2000, Smith said.
James Petuch, recycling division director, said the county has landfills in Poland and Springfield townships and in the village of Sebring. The construction and demolition site in Green Township is owned by Browning-Ferris Industries-Allied Waste, Petuch said.
Petuch said the policy board also spent a considerable amount of time Tuesday afternoon reviewing the Green Team's budget and discussing division priorities.
"One of the things we did was put on hold the competitive funding paving grants," Petuch said. The grant requests are made by nonprofit agencies countywide who want to use recycled materials for paving projects.
Sidelined one program
Petuch said the board does have some budget constraints this year to meet its priorities, and decided that since all requests couldn't be met, the paving program was tabled.
The Green Team budget is about $4.1 million this year. The recycling division gets its revenue from grants and from fees charged to haulers who bring material to the county's landfills.
By law, the money must go toward recycling-related uses and can't be used for county general fund expenses, Petuch said.
Petuch added that the policy board went over the division's priorities and decided to spend more of the fees to:
UUpgrade the county's recycling and solid waste plan, which is due for inspection by the state this year.
UPromote public awareness for recycling on local television stations.
UIntroduce a recycling-without-limitation program.
Petuch said he is determined to increase the county's recycling rate, which is at about 9 percent. He said he has about three years to get the rate up to the minimum state standard of 25 percent.