Recycling would be more accessible to remote areas with the approval of the Solid Waste Management Plan for the Athens-Hocking solid waste district.
Nelsonville City Council, Athens City Council and Logan City Council recently adopted ordinances approving the plan as part of the ratification process required by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The districts said they are trying to meet EPA goals and serve people in more remote areas with little access to recycling, said Fred Holmes, Nelsonville city manager.
Under the plan, the Ohio EPA requires 90 percent of all residents to have access to recycling on a monthly basis, said Kevin Shoemaker, spokesman for the Ohio EPA's division of solid and infectious waste management.
The program, estimated to cost about $30,000, will be funded through recycling subscription fees from residents with curbside service who pay a monthly disposal fee, said Joe Kasler, director of the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District. A fee for every ton of waste sent to the landfill is sent back to solid waste management districts and can be used in various ways, including recycling programs.
Curbside service is similar to garbage pickup -a resident pays a set fee to have the materials removed on a regular basis.
Those recycling rotations will not have any direct costs for the citizens, Stall said. Additional costs will be applied to the Solid Waste Management District with the Athens Hocking Recycling Centers, Inc.
The Solid Waste Management District will reach people in areas without a curbside recycling program, using units rotated to various locations within the district every day. The recycling unit will remain at a given location for four hours, Kasler said. He said they hope to rotate the drop-off times to fit resident schedules.
The service will benefit outlying areas in the district such as Amesville, Trimble, Glouster, Jacksonville and Laurelville, as well as areas in Hocking County. The cities of Athens, Logan and Nelsonville already have curbside recycling services and will not need to be included in the rotating drop-off locations, Kasler said.
The recycling units will be rotated through nine locations in Athens County and nine locations in Hocking County. These sites might be at a town hall
a village garage or a park Kasler said.
The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste Management District is choosing the rotating recycling plan to minimize costs to the Solid Waste Management District and prevent garbage from collecting in the recycling units, said Ernie Stall, spokesman for the Ohio EPA's division of solid and infectious waste management. There is no fee increase expected with the plan, Stall said.
The district is trying to ensure a plan for longevity with the service, Kasler said.
We're hoping to get enough people interested (in recycling) to then establish a route he said.
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