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Goshen trustees continue talking trash

GOSHEN TWP. –Township trustees Monday night continued discussion on a single waste hauler, offering a clarification which customers would be affected and agreeing to investigate the possibility.

Trustee Chair Bob McCracken, who presented the idea at last month’s meeting, reported commercial accounts, such as business farms, will not be included in a single hauler plan. He also noted that due to a high level of contamination, the Mahoning County Solid Waste District may discontinue its recycling program by the end of next year, making the curbside recycling offered with a single hauler plan more significant.

McCracken said last month a single hauler program with curbside recycling would mean the elimination of recycling sites at the maintenance garage and Damascus fire station, but that the Green Team funds would be redirected to training programs conducted by the township’s recycling coordinator, currently filled by Paul Manypenny.

McCracken also said a single hauler program would reduce heavy truck traffic on roadways, particularly in Damascus, and decrease trash pick up cost, which he said typically run between $50 to $60 per three months versus a single hauler cost as low as $14.53 per month (approximately $45 over three months).

On Monday, he shared information from the solid waste district meeting last week. He said at the meeting he learned there is 48 to 52 percent contamination at unmanned sites and there are only four manned sites in the county. If the contamination cannot be controlled, the recycling program will be eliminated due to the high cost of disposal of contaminated recycling loads, he said.

McCracken said his research has shown curbside recycling can reduce contamination to 8 to 10 percent.

And with curbside recycling, contamination can be addressed with a red tag system, McCracken explained.

The Green Team funds retained for a coordinator could be used for the coordinator to conduct spot checks of recycling bins. Red tags would be issued for contamination and after two red tags, the customer would lose recycling privileges.

Despite claims in other communities that savings do not exist for customers, McCracken said he has only seen a positive for customers.

“It’s a win-win situation from where I’ve seen it,” he said, noting the free recycling in addition to lower trash costs.

Trustee Todd Beeson agreed, saying the idea is worth pursuing because it is beneficial to residents and there is the possibility of losing the recycling program.

For the township to contract with a single hauler, the trustees would have to approve it unanimously to avoid placing the issue on an election ballot. The contract would then have to be bid out for the lowest cost meeting the specifics of service the trustees establish.

McCracken said the program would take six months to enact — from board of trustee approval to advertising and opening bids to the awarded company establishing routes and schedules.

khowell@salemnews.net

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