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Blogs:
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21st Century Skills and Akron’s new middle school
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Lost Mini Schnauzer around Cascade Valley Park
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Akron Zips:
Looking back on the season
Tribe Matters:
Seven prospects reassigned to minor-league camp
Cleveland Browns:
Yates latest to re-sign
Balanced Ledger:
How times have changed?
Kent State Sports:
Flashes fall in WNIT
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Chicago Bulls (Green Mascot and All)
Buckeye Blogging:
Bucks High Seed – Turner High Praise
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ohio offers Olack
All Da King's Men:
ObamaCare To Reduce Premiums By 3000% ?
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Pathetic GOP Nullification Attempts
Akron Law Café:
More on Shaming Corporate Criminals
Car Chase:
2010 CONCOURS SEASON IS UPON US
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Deals in Miami?!.
Sound Check:
Willie Nelson & Family coming to the Akron Civic Theatre May 11
See Jane Style:
Who Wore What – The Oscars
HRLite House:
Horses of Courses
Akron Gamer:
Video: Gamers expected to 'reach' for new 'Halo'
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 06:18 p.m. EDT, May 05, 2009
The city of Akron quietly has expanded its residential recycling, and Joanne Dobbins couldn't be happier.
''That's really good news ... and it's wonderful to know that we can recycle those materials now,'' said Dobbins of West Akron, a strong recycling advocate.
Akron's recycling program now is handling No. 1 through No. 7 plastics, not just No. 1 and No. 2 plastics found commonly in beverage containers.
Cuyahoga Falls said last week that its plastic recycling was also expanding to include No. 1 through No. 7 plastics.
Akron started recycling No. 3 through No. 7 plastics about two months ago, said Paul Barnett, Akron's Public Works manager.
The city at that time learned that Waste Management, the company that handles Akron's materials to be recycled at its Oakwood facility in southern Cuyahoga County, offers the expanded recycling option, he said.
That means that plastics from yogurt containers, cottage cheese and margarine tubs, to bottles for shampoo and other beauty products can be recycled from Akron households for the first time since the early 1990s.
The number showing what kind of plastic a bottle or container is made from is stamped on the bottom and is surrounded by a recycling triangle.
Akron had not formally announced the change to its 69,000 households but had anticipated announcing the change soon, Barnett said.
The city pays Waste Management $200,000 a year to take, process and sell its recyclables. Any profit from the sale of the materials goes to the company, not the city.
Akron and Cuyahoga Falls join Barberton in recycling all plastics.
Barberton, whose recyclables also are handled by Waste Management, has been recycling No. 1 through No. 7 plastics for a number of years, said city Service Director Elwood Palmer.
In the early years of its program, Barberton only handled No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, but that changed when Waste Management took over the recycling from the city, said Lisa McLean of Barberton Beautification.
Cuyahoga Falls had been recycling only No. 1 and No. 2 plastics through Waste Management, said city spokesman Charles Novak.
Waste Management officials said the expanded plastics recycling is and has been available to all of its municipal customers and any Waste Management residential customers who are signed up for trash disposal-recycling, said company spokesman Arnold Brock.
His plant off Interstate 271 just north of the Summit-Cuyahoga County line handles 7,000 to 8,000 tons of recyclables per month, he said.
No. 1 and No. 2 plastics account for about 60 percent of the volume coming into the sorting-processing facility with No. 3 through No. 7 plastics accounting for the other 40 percent, he said.
Improvements in recycling technologies have made it easier and more economical to recycle some of the polymer-based No. 3 through No. 7 plastics, he said.
Residents living in other Summit County communities largely are dependent on what services are offered by their trash haulers-recycling companies, said Yolanda Walker, executive director of the Summit-Akron Solid Waste Management Authority.
In most cases, recyclers are sticking to No. 1 and No. 2 plastics only, she said.
Most programs across Ohio only recycle No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, said Andrew Booker of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
''It is a complicated, spotty and confusing issue ... and recycling No. 3 through No. 7 plastics is more the exception, not the rule,'' he said.
Elsewhere, Medina County stopped recycling No. 3 through No. 7 plastics about three to four months ago, said William Strazinsky, the county's solid waste coordinator.
Only No. 1 and No. 2 plastics are being removed from the waste at the county's Central Processing Facility in Westfield Township, mostly because the prices paid for No. 3 through No. 7 plastics has dropped, he said.
It is not worth spending $100 to remove the plastics from the waste stream when you're only getting $20 for them, he said.
''Markets are sometimes very funny,'' Strazinsky said.
Medina County had recycled No. 1 through No. 7 plastics for four to five years before the change earlier this year, he said.
The materials are recycled for Medina County by Norton Environmental of Independence under an existing contract.
Portage County handles only No. 1 and No. 2 plastics and that is unlikely to change in the near future, said Bill Steiner, director of the Portage County Solid Waste Management District.
Ideally, Portage County would like to recycle No. 3 through No. 7 plastics but a more-developed infrastructure for such plastics is needed, he said.
Portage handles its own sorting, baling, shipping and sales of recyclable materials.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
More city residents recycle
Residential recycling in Akron has climbed sharply since 2006, when the city offered a financial incentive for its 69,000 households to recycle.
The percentage of Akron households that recycle has grown from 18 percent in 2002 to 57 percent in 2008, said Paul Barnett of Akron's Bureau of Public Works.
The percentage grew from 34 percent in 2006, when the incentive first was offered, to 49 percent in 2007 and to 57 percent in 2008, he said.
That has resulted in an increase on recyclable materials picked up: from 5,345 tons in 2006 to 7,578 tons in 2007 to 8,166 tons in 2008, he said.
That has also produced a downward drop in trash volume from 82,343 tons in 2006 to 73,948 tons in 2007 to 74,831 tons in 2008, he said.
The city of Akron offered its financial incentive to residents in August 2006, Barnett said.
Residents who do not recycle started paying $19.50 a month for trash disposal, while those who did recycle paid $17.50 a month, he said.
— Bob Downing
The city of Akron quietly has expanded its residential recycling, and Joanne Dobbins couldn't be happier.
''That's really good news ... and it's wonderful to know that we can recycle those materials now,'' said Dobbins of West Akron, a strong recycling advocate.
Akron's recycling program now is handling No. 1 through No. 7 plastics, not just No. 1 and No. 2 plastics found commonly in beverage containers.
Cuyahoga Falls said last week that its plastic recycling was also expanding to include No. 1 through No. 7 plastics.
Akron started recycling No. 3 through No. 7 plastics about two months ago, said Paul Barnett, Akron's Public Works manager.
The city at that time learned that Waste Management, the company that handles Akron's materials to be recycled at its Oakwood facility in southern Cuyahoga County, offers the expanded recycling option, he said.
That means that plastics from yogurt containers, cottage cheese and margarine tubs, to bottles for shampoo and other beauty products can be recycled from Akron households for the first time since the early 1990s.
The number showing what kind of plastic a bottle or container is made from is stamped on the bottom and is surrounded by a recycling triangle.
Akron had not formally announced the change to its 69,000 households but had anticipated announcing the change soon, Barnett said.
The city pays Waste Management $200,000 a year to take, process and sell its recyclables. Any profit from the sale of the materials goes to the company, not the city.
Akron and Cuyahoga Falls join Barberton in recycling all plastics.
Barberton, whose recyclables also are handled by Waste Management, has been recycling No. 1 through No. 7 plastics for a number of years, said city Service Director Elwood Palmer.
In the early years of its program, Barberton only handled No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, but that changed when Waste Management took over the recycling from the city, said Lisa McLean of Barberton Beautification.
Cuyahoga Falls had been recycling only No. 1 and No. 2 plastics through Waste Management, said city spokesman Charles Novak.
Waste Management officials said the expanded plastics recycling is and has been available to all of its municipal customers and any Waste Management residential customers who are signed up for trash disposal-recycling, said company spokesman Arnold Brock.
His plant off Interstate 271 just north of the Summit-Cuyahoga County line handles 7,000 to 8,000 tons of recyclables per month, he said.
No. 1 and No. 2 plastics account for about 60 percent of the volume coming into the sorting-processing facility with No. 3 through No. 7 plastics accounting for the other 40 percent, he said.
Improvements in recycling technologies have made it easier and more economical to recycle some of the polymer-based No. 3 through No. 7 plastics, he said.
Residents living in other Summit County communities largely are dependent on what services are offered by their trash haulers-recycling companies, said Yolanda Walker, executive director of the Summit-Akron Solid Waste Management Authority.
In most cases, recyclers are sticking to No. 1 and No. 2 plastics only, she said.
Most programs across Ohio only recycle No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, said Andrew Booker of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
''It is a complicated, spotty and confusing issue ... and recycling No. 3 through No. 7 plastics is more the exception, not the rule,'' he said.
Elsewhere, Medina County stopped recycling No. 3 through No. 7 plastics about three to four months ago, said William Strazinsky, the county's solid waste coordinator.
Only No. 1 and No. 2 plastics are being removed from the waste at the county's Central Processing Facility in Westfield Township, mostly because the prices paid for No. 3 through No. 7 plastics has dropped, he said.
It is not worth spending $100 to remove the plastics from the waste stream when you're only getting $20 for them, he said.
''Markets are sometimes very funny,'' Strazinsky said.
Medina County had recycled No. 1 through No. 7 plastics for four to five years before the change earlier this year, he said.
The materials are recycled for Medina County by Norton Environmental of Independence under an existing contract.
Portage County handles only No. 1 and No. 2 plastics and that is unlikely to change in the near future, said Bill Steiner, director of the Portage County Solid Waste Management District.
Ideally, Portage County would like to recycle No. 3 through No. 7 plastics but a more-developed infrastructure for such plastics is needed, he said.
Portage handles its own sorting, baling, shipping and sales of recyclable materials.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
More city residents recycle
Residential recycling in Akron has climbed sharply since 2006, when the city offered a financial incentive for its 69,000 households to recycle.
The percentage of Akron households that recycle has grown from 18 percent in 2002 to 57 percent in 2008, said Paul Barnett of Akron's Bureau of Public Works.
The percentage grew from 34 percent in 2006, when the incentive first was offered, to 49 percent in 2007 and to 57 percent in 2008, he said.
That has resulted in an increase on recyclable materials picked up: from 5,345 tons in 2006 to 7,578 tons in 2007 to 8,166 tons in 2008, he said.
That has also produced a downward drop in trash volume from 82,343 tons in 2006 to 73,948 tons in 2007 to 74,831 tons in 2008, he said.
The city of Akron offered its financial incentive to residents in August 2006, Barnett said.
Residents who do not recycle started paying $19.50 a month for trash disposal, while those who did recycle paid $17.50 a month, he said.
— Bob Downing
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 07:19 PM, 05/05/2009
Great to know the program has expanded! Now on to yard waste and food waste like Seattle and Portland...
Posted 08:16 PM, 05/05/2009
Would someone plese explain to me why we pay a company $200,000 dollars to take the recyclables and then get none of the profits from them. They get paid and all of the profits!?! I wonder who they know to get that deal?
Akron, oh
Posted 07:30 AM, 05/06/2009
Recyle cans are used for normal trash because the city won't give enough trash cans for the normal trash.
I think they should fire all the sanatation workers and make it total private.
Akron would save money We would have better trash pick up .
My observation of Akron trash pick up they are so concerned they might have to pick up an extra trash bag they might be late to quit their job.
If a ninty year old lady puts a trash bag on the curb it is to heavey for the crew to pick up.
The worst trash crew i believe is the crew on 600 block of Grant St.
I see one man in the suburbs do the same amount of work as 3 men do on the back of an Akron sanatation truck.
This post is near and dear to my heart
Akron, , OH
Posted 07:42 AM, 05/06/2009
@ westhill
Start a compost pile and you won't need any ones help!!
Akron, OH
Posted 12:21 PM, 05/06/2009
Ok, I live in an apartment in Akron so I can't take advantage of curbside pickup... where the heck can I drop off my recycling?! I'm tired of dumping it at my friend's house in Streetsboro!
Akron, OH
Posted 12:42 PM, 05/06/2009
@Julie...
The more 'trash' that goes to the recycling company means less 'trash' going to the landfill.
The city's residents pay for the use the landfill so lower quantities of trash going to the landfill means less costs to the city's residents.
Finally, a "Win-Win".
Akron, OH
Posted 12:47 PM, 05/06/2009
========================
The ABJ story reported:
Akron started recycling No 3 through No 7 plastics about two months ago.
-AND-
Akron has not formally announced the change to its 69,000 households
========================
Fantastic job "City of Akron".
You have a city website. You can print memos at the bottom of water/trash bills. You have the ear of every media outlet in the area.
Why have you waited 2 months to bother to tell the people who pay the city's bills and provide your paycheck?
akron, OH
Posted 03:09 PM, 05/06/2009
The calendar the city sent out for 2009 does state that they accept plastics 1-7.
Akron, OH
Posted 03:47 PM, 05/06/2009
@Kimberly...
Strange.
Akron's Public Works Manager said the expanded recycling "began about 2 months ago" but the 2009 calendar had the expansion listed.
Is this just another example of the Plusquellic administration's program of "one hand not knowing what the other one is doing" again?
