Poland group eyes grant

More than 60 of the recycling grants were awarded last year.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — Members of a community beautification group hope a Green Team grant will be the answer to litter problems before they start.

Town One Streetscapes has applied for a $7,000 Recycling Initiatives Competitive Funding Project grant from Mahoning County’s Recycling and Reuse Division, also called the Green Team.

Barbara Delisio of Streetscapes said the organization wants to buy 14 receptacles, seven each for trash and recycling, to place in the village, primarily along U.S. Route 224 and state Route 170.

Streetscapes and village council will each pay $700 toward the purchase.

“There’s a lot of walkers downtown with Peterson Park, Yellow Creek Theater and Centennial Gardens, and most of the people are carrying plastic bottles or cans, but there’s no place to put trash” or recyclables, Delisio said.

The group expects to learn by March if the application was successful.

Jim Petuch, Green Team director, said that about $100,000 in grant money is available this year for projects involving recycling. Grants are awarded annually.

The application deadline is Tuesday and last year more than 60 projects received funding.

“It’s for nonprofits, schools, churches as well as governmental entities,” Petuch said.

The applications are reviewed by a seven-member policy committee that makes recommendations for which should be funded. Mahoning County commissioners make the final determination.

Delisio said the group plans to place a set of the receptacles in front of Friendly’s restaurant on U.S. 224 to collect trash from middle school pupils who frequent the business many Friday afternoons during the school year.

Trash around the village hasn’t been a big problem, Delisio said, but “there is some.” Group members hope that if trash and recycling bins are easily accessible, people will opt to use them instead of littering, she said.