Wednesday, May 14, 2014
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County recycling division is launching a public-awareness campaign as to what should and should not go into the bins at the county’s 30 recycling drop-off sites, Lou Vega, division director, told the county’s solid- waste policy committee.
Paper and cardboard, glass bottles, metal cans and plastic containers should be dropped into those bins, he said.
Other plastic items, however, such as kiddie pools and playground equipment, should not be placed in the bins because they are too large for the conveyor systems at facilities that sort and bundle recyclables, he said Tuesday.
“If you can buy it in your grocery store, it’s acceptable,” Vega said of plastic items that should go into the drop-off bins.
Among the items that should not go into the bins are electronic items, appliances and porcelain toilets, he said.
The recycling division sponsors separate electronics and appliance drives.
A household-appliance collection will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Covelli Centre, along with motor-vehicle tire collection from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day at that location.
A household hazardous- waste collection will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Canfield Fairgrounds, Gate 9.
Vega said the presence of too many inappropriate items, known as “contaminants,” in the recycling bins could result in higher charges when the county enters into a new contract for drop-off bin recycling collections two years from now.
Republic Services now performs these collections for about $500,000 a year.
Contaminants found in the bins include numerous toilets, tires and appliances, Vega told the committee.
Mike Heher, manager of Republic Services’ Carbon Limestone landfill in Poland, told the committee his landfill is receiving a considerable volume of waste from oil and gas drilling in Columbiana and Harrison counties, but he declined to provide specific figures after the meeting.
The county’s recycling division depends on landfill dumping fees for most of its revenue to support its annual budget, which is $2.3 million this year.
The committee decided to conduct its regular meetings at 8:30 a.m. the second Tuesday of each month at Oakhill Renaissance Place, where the division has its office.