Municipal Recycling

Illinois Gov.Rod Blagojevich has announced that more than $400,000 in Opportunity Returns funding has been awarded to eight Southern Illinois organizations. The grants will support recycling initiatives that will help create 10 new jobs and advance recycling collection and processing efforts throughout the area.

Each organization will receive grants to expand recycling collection by adding and servicing additional drop-off sites, purchasing new equipment or servicing new customers. These grants are part of Opportunity Returns, Blagojevich’s regional economic development program designed to create jobs and to promote economic growth in the Southern region of the state.

"Throughout the Southern region, Opportunity Returns is designed to give business and industry the resources they need to be more competitive and more productive," says Blagojevich. "Through the Illinois Recycling Grants Program, we are expanding markets for a very important industry in our state, strengthening its capacity to create more jobs and continuing to make a positive impact on Southern Illinois."

The grant recipients for the Southern region are:

• Choate Mental Health & Development Center, $45,234;

• Southern Recycling Center, $100,000;

• Burris Disposal Service LLC, $50,000;

• Southern Illinois University, $37,813;

• City of DuQuoin, $27,054; • Wayne County Board, $50,000;

• In a Pinch, Herrin, $50,000;

• Ripped to Shreds Inc., $48,352.

Grant awards are determined on a competitive basis, and the grantee is required to provide a matching investment of at least 50 percent of the funding required for the project.

Clark-Whitehill Enterprises, a large, professional property management firm, is offering its residents in Hampton Roads, Va., the opportunity to conveniently recycle paper, cardboard, plastics, glass bottles, steel and aluminum food and beverage containers in its apartment and multi-family communities.

"Our residents love the fact that they now have a convenient recycling option," Chris Davenport, vice president of management for Clark-Whitehill, says. "Our company loves the fact that we were able to incorporate recycling into our communities, utilize one vendor for both services and do it all at no additional cost. More importantly, it furthers our commitment to be responsible corporate citizens."

The program uses 95 gallon/8 yard containers that are strategically placed throughout the community and allows residents to commingle recyclables in one container.

Tidewater Fibre Corp., Chesapeake, Va., services the containers, bringing the material to its processing facility for sorting and marketing. Unrecyclable material goes to the Refuse Derived Fuel plant in Portsmouth for conversion into fuel.

While recycling rates throughout New Jersey continue to drop, Atlantic County’s recycling efforts show growth.

In 2002, Atlantic County had a 61 percent recycling rate compared to a statewide recycling rate of 53.5 percent. Only Cape May and Cumberland Counties reported higher recycling rates than Atlantic County.

"Recycling has become a way of life in Atlantic County, and residents, businesses and the construction industry understand the need to recycle as much waste as possible," County Executive Dennis Levinson says.

Once a leader in the national recycling movement, New Jersey’s recycling rates have dropped during the last few years.

"The reduction in recycling is a result of lower disposal costs, a lack of state funding for public education and reduced enforcement," Rick Dovey, president of Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA), says. "The state used to provide $10 million to $15 million per year for local recycling programs. These grants ended in 1997. The recycling effort statewide has been dwindling ever since."

ACUA’s Jim Rutala says, "The ACUA is continuing to expand its recycling programs. This fall the ACUA will offer our first computer recycling program, and traditional recycling has been expanded by working with the local recycling coordinators, school districts and major business establishments, like the Atlantic City Convention Center, the casinos and the new businesses, entering our market."