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2491 Highland Road
Hermitage, PA 16148
P: 724.981.2412
F: 724.981.7667
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Mercer County's recycling depot program experienced another banner year in both public participation and pounds of recyclables collected at the 8 "Blue Bin" sites located throughout the county. Data just released by the Mercer County Solid Waste Authority (MCSWA) shows a 50% growth in the weight of material recycled during 2004 when compared to 2003. During 2004, MCSWA trucks picked up and delivered to the Crawford County Recycling Center for processing over 2.6 million pounds of recyclables. Since the program began in the fall of 2002, a total of 4.75 million pounds of newspapers, magazines, cardboard and various containers (plastic, glass, metal) have been recycled at the depots. The most common item recycled by county residents is newspaper, followed by #1 and #2 plastic containers. The recycling depot system was purchased in 2002 with a grant from Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
According to Don Blakesley, County Recycling Coordinator and administrator of the program, "we expect recycling at the depots in 2005 will increase by another 20%, and as a result we will add one additional depot site to the system this year. The popularity of the program has really grown faster than I had anticipated, we operate two collection trucks six days a week to keep the bins empty", Mr. Blakesley added.
Due to the increasing volume of recyclables collected, the Authority has started construction of a $1.8 million recycling consolidation center at Jackson Commerce Park in Jackson township. When completed, the consolidation center will serve as a collection, consolidation, and trans-shipment facility for materials collected in the Mercer County recycling program. MCSWA recycling trucks, after collecting recycled materials like magazines, cardboard, newspaper, etc., will arrive at the center, get weighed, and then dump recycled materials into large containers called transtors, which are large steel containers with hydraulic loaders. When transtors are full, they will be dumped into larger trucks for delivery to recycling material recovery facilities or direct to market. Construction of the center is expected to be complete by June of this year.
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