Recycling in Pike County is facing serious problems

Wayne’s situation is slightly better

By TOM KANE

PIKE AND WAYNE COUNTIES, PA - Recycling programs in Pike and Wayne counties are facing some trying times due to the downturn in business.

The reason why Wayne is in a better position than Pike may be the fact that Wayne has its own recycling center and is not as vulnerable to the fluctuating market in sales of recycling material, according to Randy Heller, Wayne County Recycling Department director.

Although it does not have a center, Pike has a recycling department with seven employees, several trucks, other recycling equipment and 16 sites where materials are picked up.

Attempts to sell the material on the market have been discouraging.

“Our markets are drying up, while our operating costs are rising,” said Harry Forbes, Pike commissioner. If the county can’t sell their recyclables to the market, they will have to pay the landfills to take them, he said.

“Our landfills have just told us that the price is going up $20 a ton,” Forbes said. “Last year, recycling cost us $303,000,” he said. “We took in $181,352 but those receipts are going down drastically because the recycling companies are not buying from us as they used to.”

Pike’s operating costs are expected to go up another $100,000, so operating costs next year will reach $400,000, he said. “Our equipment, like trucks and compressors, are getting old and will have to be replaced but that’s not likely now.”

Forbes said the county is attempting to find programs that will give them some relief. “Monroe County has the ability to store recyclables until the market improves,’ Forbes said. “We are exploring how we might use them to take our recyclables.”

“Since business is so bad, the funds in the state recycling program are becoming less and less,” Heller said.

The state collects a $2 dollar a ton fee from haulers at landfills and that money goes into a fund that counties can access through written grants.

“Because of the business downturn, that fund is not growing as it has in the past,” Heller said. “We don’t know yet this year how much money is in the fund now so we can’t access it.”