Recycling in Chemung County has improved over the past year. Casella is working to make recycling easier and and more customer friendly. Below are some things that have occured or are being planned in the near future.
In February 2011, a mailing was sent out to Chemung County residents regarding the availability of the zero sort process. Since that mailer was distributed, approximately 200 additional households have taken advantage of the ability to utilize larger totes for the collection of their Zero Sort materials. Based on Casella’s customer pool, in2010 the average recycling rate per household was 5.72 pounds. In 2011 the average is trending at 6.98 pounds per household. This 22% increase can be attributed to residential education and larger bins.
In April 2011, Casella began accepting electronics free of charge at the Lake Street Facility. Prior to that, electronics were previously accepted for a fee of $25 per unit. Since April, 561 televisions and computer components have been recycled by Chemung County free of charge. Casella continues to absorb the costs associated with materials and labor.
In February 2011, investments were made towards infrastructure improvements. These improvements made it possible for Casella to add the ability to process aseptic packaging. Aseptic packaging was added to the list of acceptedrecyclable materials in May. An add campaign will run in the Star-Gazette in July.
Casella is currently looking into the cost associated with further expanding the MRFs capabilities to accept rigid plastics for recycling. This includes seeking-out qualified mills who would desire the materials for re-use.
Casella is also looking into the process of coordinating a recycling informational event/open house. The goal of the event will be to invite residents/customers/haulers to tour the MFR so that they have the opportunity to learn about what they can recycle and how there material is further processed after it’s received at the Chemung facilities. They are tentatively looking at a September 2011 timeline for this event.
In line with the County’s Local Solid Waste Management Plan, Casella has and will continue to generate tonnage information for the County’s planning unit report that will help numerically demonstrate the efforts made towards waste reduction.
All of these efforts, both those already implemented and those being investigated, have contributed to Chemung County’s vision of increasing the number of commodities available for recycling and the convience of participation. These efforts have and will continue to aid the County in reaching its Local Solid Waste Management Plan goals and further aid the County in their abilities to offer a more sustainable place to live.
On July 19th, Legislator Strange toured the Casella Waste Management’s Zero-Sort recycling facility in Ontario County. He learned the process that recyclables go thought from start to finish. The Ontario County site is where all Chemung County recyclables are taken to be recycled.
Information above was provided by: Carla M. Jordan (Canjar) – Casella Regional Landfill Engineering Manager