RecyclingMonster - South Strabane Township supervisors approved a glass recycling agreement with East Washington during the township’s Tuesday meeting.
Starting in March and lasting a year, the borough will contribute $57 per dumpster toward the township’s glass collection program with Michael Brothers Hauling & Recycling, near Bethel Park.
In December, the township partnered with Michael Brothers to provide a glass recycling drop-off dumpster for township residents’ use. It sits outside the township municipal building. The township is paying $300 each time Michael Brothers empties the bin, as needed, and brings an empty back.
Township assistant manager Patrick Conners said that since they began the program, they’ve been averaging emptying the dumpster twice a month.
Now that East Washington residents will also be able to use the bin, the borough will contribute $57 to each service cost, a rate derived by the borough’s population percentage compared to the township.
East Washington’s council approved the agreement earlier this month, Mayor Mike Gomber said.
“It’s important that communities are sharing their resources and working together,” he said. “It’s going to benefit the borough and save us money, but it’s also about sharing resources with other communities.”
With additional residents dropping off glass recycling, Conners said he wanted to remind people to take any metal or non-glass lids off jars or bottles to ensure that only glass materials make it into the dumpster.
Conners said the township is working to clean up the old public works area on Zediker Station Road near the intersection with Rankin Road, where the township collects yard waste recycling.
“We’re going to try to make that a comprehensive recycling center,” Conners said.
Eventually, they’d like to move the glass collection dumpster to that location as well, he said, but they have more cleanup work to do there first. They recently demolished the former road shed which sat at that intersection, and built a new cold storage building next to the new public works facility, at 680 Floral Hill Drive near Community Park.