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Recycling options

In 2017 the City of Elkins created the Recycling Committee. The Recycling Committee is made up of three City Council members, and is tasked with coming up with ways to improve recycling opportunities within the City, and also brainstorming ways that the City can add to the recycling opportunities already in place. During the course of the Recycling Committee’s existence, it has worked closely with the Randolph County Solid Waste Authority on recycling matters that serve to benefit both the City of Elkins and the County as a whole.

One of the requests that I have heard several times from local residents is the desire to see the City offer glass recycling. As a result, the City of Elkins and the RCSWA have been discussing a plan that would bring glass recycling back to the City of Elkins. As part of this plan, the City of Elkins has procured a glass recycling contractor that is willing to place glass collection bins on City property, collect the bins when they are full, and transport the bins back to their business location so that the glass collected can be recycled. The City has arranged to place the glass collection bins at its Wastewater Collection and Transmission Plant, a gated facility, to more fully ensure that only glass is placed in the bins. In addition the City will provide a part time employee to monitor the bins, and assist residents with glass recycling.

As with any new project that is worthwhile, there are expenses. Thankfully the RCSWA has graciously agreed to help fund the glass recycling endeavor; to the tune of 75 percent of the anticipated costs. Without the RCSWA’s financial contribution it is unlikely that the City would be able to push forward with the plan.

Glass recycling within the City of Elkins will serve a couple purposes. First, it is environmentally responsible. Glass does not decompose. The recycling of glass takes a material out of our landfills that would otherwise exist for thousands of years. Second, relative to other garbage placed in our waste stream, glass is very heavy. The more glass we can take out of our garbage cans and place in the glass recycling bins, the more money the City will save in paying to dispose of the garbage it collects. It is the Recycling Committee’s hope that glass recycling will someday pay for itself; in that the fees incurred in implementing glass recycling will be offset with reduced costs paid to dispose of collected garbage. We hope to be able to start implanting glass recycling by mid-February.

While serving as the Chair of the Recycling Committee I have learned that the economics of recycling are tough, and that the profit margins for those in the private sector engaged in the recycling business are small to non-existent. Most recycling ventures cannot exists without utilizing grants. The City and the RCSWA are exploring opportunities to work together to obtain grant funds from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan (REAP) Recycling Program. The City of Elkins is able to apply for, and receive up to $75,000 in grant funding, every other year to assist with its recycling efforts.

The RCSWA is able to receive up to $150,000 in REAP grant funds every other year.

The City and the RCSWA are strategizing ways to obtain these funds, and then use these funds to help local recycling businesses, such as the Randolph County Recycling Center (located on 11th Street) grow and promote their services, while at the same time expanding recycling within the City and the County.

The Recycling Committee and the RCSWA are actively working to expand recycling within the region.

Please check out the City of Elkins website to learn more particular information about glass recycling and other recycling efforts.

The website address is: http://cityofelkinswv.com/living/public-service-utilities/recycling-in-elkins/. If you are interested in attending a Recycling Committee meeting, they are normally held the fourth Tuesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. in room 212 of Elkins City Hall.

To verify meeting times check the calendar on the City of Elkins website or contact the City Clerk at 304-636-1414 ext. 1211.

— Rob Chenoweth, First Ward City Councilman, is the Chair of the city’s Recycling Committee.

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