TRR photo by Tome Kane At local recycling centers, what was once trash is taken and turned into environmentally sound profit. (Click for larger image)

BY TOM KANE

MONTICELLO - Have you been recycling your used newspapers, cans, bottles and plastic? If so, you're a part of the large number in the county that do.

With regard to the possible demise of the Tusten transfer station, one town resident and a town official expressed the opinion that the county had weakened its commitment to recycling.

But not according to Sullivan County Recycling Coordinator Bill Cutler. If anything, he said, it's growing. "If you look at the total tonnage of recycled items, you can see the increase clearly."

In 1996, total tonnage of all recyclables was 3,712.7. In 1997, it increased to 4.898.4. In 1998 it was 5,174.8 and it was 5,366.0 by last year. Cutler expects the total to reach 6,000 tons by the end of this year.

Recyclable items come into the county land fill from all over the county. There are four permanent county-run transfer stations and one temporary one. The four permanent stations are located in Ferndale, Highland, Mamakating and Rockland. The temporary one is in Cochecton. Whether the Cochecton station stays open is up to the town, Cutler said. "They own the land."

"In general, markets for these items are good," Cutler said. That's especially true for used newsprint and cardboard. "We're getting from $90 to $100 a ton for newsprint and $200 a ton for cardboard," he said. "If it costs us from $40 to $50 a ton to process, it's clear that we will have some revenue from it."

Markets depend on international and global issues so the prices can vary from year to year, he said.

Cutler pointed to other cost-saving measures. "By recycling, we take these items out of the landfill stream where there's a cost of $55 a ton. It results in a saving and prolongs the life of the landfill. Also, the hope is that we can market these materials for more than it costs us to process them," he said.

Processing is done in a location at the landfill called the Materials Recycling Facility or MRF. Currently, the county has one county worker at the site as well as five to eight adults from the Sullivan ARC and six to ten inmates from the Woodbourne Correctional Facility on an on-going basis.

The revenue isn't enormous but you can at least break even and have a small profit, Culter said. Last year, marketing the recyclables brought in $121,000.

Cutler, who has been recycling coordinator for ten years, said he would not stay if the county reversed its commitment to recycling.

"I'm still here," he said.