But residents of both Cheswick and Springdale can now recycle old newspapers and magazines for free thanks to an award-winning paper collection program organized by PA CleanWays Allegheny County chapter and Carnegie-based Unipaper Recycling Co.
PA CleanWays is a nonprofit organization working to eliminate illegal dumping and littering across the state.
About a year ago, the Westmoreland County branch of PA CleanWays began a paper recycling program through a partnership with Unipaper, according to Andy Labrasca, the company's marketing director.
It works like this: Unipaper provides the municipalities with labeled drop-off containers and empties the waste from the bins every month for free. At the end of the year, the state Department of Environmental Protection then reimburses each participating municipality $5 for every ton of paper collected.
Labrasca estimates his company collects about 145 tons of paper per month in Westmoreland County, which amounts to almost 1,800 tons of waste every year that the 30 participating municipalities don't have to pay to throw away.
With an average landfill cost of $30 per ton, this saves these governments about $50,000 per year in combined waste disposal costs, Labrasca said.
Participants in the Alle-Kiski Valley include New Kensington, Lower Burrell and Upper Burrell.
The program almost seems too good to be true:
Unipaper taps into an ample source of the raw material it needs to run its business;
PA CleanWays makes headway in its mission to reduce the amount of trash in the state's waste stream;
The municipalities get a free recycling program with a rebate.
And this is not to mention the boon to the environment, the silent beneficiary of the project.
Governor Mark Schweiker recognized the value of the paper collection program in May by presenting Unipaper and the Westmoreland Chapter of PA CleanWays with the Waste Watcher Award for their outstanding efforts in recycling. Last year, energy producer Dominion Peoples also awarded the two groups with its prestigious Community Impact Award.
Success in Westmoreland County has prompted Unipaper and PA CleanWays to extend their reach into Allegheny County, starting with the four municipalities that comprise Allegheny Valley School District.
Cheswick and Springdale have already signed on, and the company is awaiting feedback from Harmar and Springdale Township, Labrasca said.
"We're not large enough to fall under the state's mandatory recycling laws, and it's usually not cost effective for smaller municipalities like ours to recycle," said Springdale Borough Manager April Winklmann. "This will give our residents the option to recycle at no cost, and from an environmental standpoint, it's a step in the right direction for the borough."
According to the state Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act enacted in 1988, curbside recycling is only mandatory for communities with populations greater than 5,000.
The original idea for bringing a recycling program to the Allegheny Valley School District came from Amanda Worek, who graduated from Springdale Junior-Senior High School last spring, said Carol Popp, executive director of the Allegheny County branch of PA CleanWays.
Worek could not be reached for comment.
Unipaper and PA CleanWays don't plan to confine their growth to the river towns of the lower Allegheny Valley.
They will approach the eight Councils of Governments throughout the county in November to assess broader interest levels in their program.
"The population is so much more concentrated in Allegheny County that we could be collecting hundreds of thousands of tons of paper by the time we finish getting this launched," Popp said.
Popp also said that depending on the program's success, it could be expanded to include other recyclables such as plastics and aluminum. - Valley News Dispatch
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