TRR photo by David Hulse (Click for larger image)

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO - Sullivan County legislator Robert Kunis (D-8) is pictured October 5 as he argued that Sullivan County should be redeeming deposit beverage containers at $.05 a piece rather than selling the raw materials by the ton.

The debate came during the Department of Public Works presentation of plans for a $1.4 million recycling center, which would be included in a new $7.3 million landfill bond issue.

The bulk of the bond funding, some $5.8 million, would cover capping costs for the landfill's first two, now filled, cells and the creation of a four-acre cell six.

Responding to Kunis, DPW Commissioner Peter Lilholt admitted that recycled cans that the county sells for $600 or $700 per ton could be worth $5000, but, he added, the county has neither the personnel to accomplish the sorting nor the storage area to accommodate a deposit redemption program.

The lack of material storage space for the existing program was highlighted in the DPW bond presentation, which featured photographs of storage sheds packed to overflowing with recycled cardboard and bottles.

Public works committee chair Rodney Gaebel (RC-5) said the recycling center, which would be 50-percent funded by outside revenues, eventually could double as a transfer station for the Monticello area after Sullivan leaves the landfill business.