Fire Creates Problem for Recycling Program

A fire that April 23^rd that severely damaged a Recycle America Alliance facility in Onondaga County, N.Y., has resulted in the country having to shift the collected material to other sources.

According to press reports, as much as 60 percent of al the recyclables collected in the county were forced to be shipped to alternate locations due to the fire.

While some of the collected containers were backed up at the Onondaga County Resoruce Recovery Agency transfer station initially, the county agency announced that it has been able to adjust their operations to take in the material.

Despite the fire, Tom Rhoads, OCRRA’s executive director, says there will be no changes in recycling practices as a result of the fire.

"We are asking residents and businesses to continue their outstanding recycling activities just as they have in the past. All of the materials placed in the blue bin this week have been recycled. And that will be the case next week as well."

Rhoads said that materials normally delivered to the Recycle America plant were diverted to the OCRRA transfer station. They were then loaded aboard tractor-trailer rigs that transported them to a recycling facility in Rochester, NY.

Naef Recycling in East Syracuse is now handling commercial corrugated cardboard that prior to the fire was accepted at Recycle America. To handle the extra tonnage the company has added a shift to process the material.

In addition to recyclables from Onondaga County, the two recycling centers recover and market recyclables from 12 other counties in Central New York.