close

Recycling dropoff spawns traffic jam

5 min read
article image -

So many people arrived so early for the Washington County’s new, monthly electronics recycling that the planning commission is instituting some changes and making some requests from those who plan to drop off recyclables at future collections.

Jason Theakston, county recycling coordinator, said Tuesday, “Everyone showed up early. We’re trying our best to mitigate that. We’re more concerned about people’s safety.”

More than 30 vehicles converged on the fairgrounds in advance of the 2 p.m. opening and shortly thereafter.

Traffic spilled out onto heavily traveled North Main Street in Arden, which is a conduit for trucks coming and going to Waste Management’s landfill and other industrial addresses.

Chartiers Township police brought the matter to the planning commission’s attention, and sheriff’s deputies were called to assist with traffic control.

Theakson described the Jan. 5 collection from 2 to 3:30 p.m. as “packed busy,” while from 4 to 5 p.m., “people trickled in. If everyone tries to beat the rush, they become the rush. We’re fine with the volume. We want to see people using this program, but the paramount issue is safety. Now, we’re a little more prepared about what to expect,” Theakston said.

At the next collection, Feb. 2, and thereafter, Washington County will not be serving cars before 2 p.m. Chartiers Township police will be patroling during the event.

“If the line of vehicles is stretched onto North Main Street, we are asking participants not to enter, and instead, come back after 15 minutes for safety reasons,” Theakston said.

Based on January’s traffic, he estimated waiting time at one hour for those who arrive at 2 p.m.; 35 minutes for those who arrive at 3 p.m.; and 20 minutes for those who arrive at 4 p.m.

A diagram of three traffic-stacking lanes on fairgrounds property has been placed on the county website at www.co.washington.pa.us/DocumentCenter/View/2154.

Electronics will be collected in Hall No. 1, the fairgrounds’ main exhibit hall. Those dropping off appliances containing Freon will have to pay a $15 removal fee. People will be charged $1 per compact fluorescent bulb, also known as CFLs, and for 4- and 8-foot fluorescent tubes. Only cash will be accepted, and those carting devices to the fairgrounds do not have to show proof of residency. JVS Environmental of Rockwood, Somerset County, will handle the electronic waste according to guidelines of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Curbside pickup of televisions with household trash has been banned in Pennsylvania since January 2013, and it had been nearly six months since the last electronics recycling at the fairgrounds.

“We get five or six calls a day about TVs,” Theakson said. “Before this monthly collection we had limited answers.”

Theakston estimated between 300 and 350 vehicles came to the fairgrounds for the Jan. 5 recycling collection, but he did not yet have a total number of tonnage dropped off.

He wasn’t sure if popularity of this month’s collection was due to the build-up of old televisions in people’s homes, the number of flat-screen TVs purchased for Christmas to replace older models, or both. The county’s collection also coincided with eLoop LLC’s discontinuation of its free electronics collections in both Peters and South Fayette townships as the new year arrived.

Theakston, in advance of Feb. 2, the next scheduled electronics recycling, said he’d prefer to “spread the volume of people coming in across the whole event.”

Television recycling is limited to one per carload, but cars started arriving at the fairgrounds at 1 p.m. Jan. 5, overlapped with cleanup after the “Produce to People” fresh food distribution at the fairgrounds by the Greater Washington County Food Bank that took place from 10 a.m. to noon.

Additional dates for electronics recycling are March 1, April 5, May 3, June 14, July 5, Aug. 2, Sept. 6, Oct. 4, Nov. 1 and Dec. 13. Due to the popularity of the collection, the August date has been added to the list in advance of the annual Washington County Fair, Aug. 13-20, since the original announcement of the 2016 schedule last month.

Any participant bringing more than 20 items must notify the planning commission at 724-228-6811 in advance.

No hazardous chemicals, laboratory or testing equipment will be accepted at electronics collections.

The website www.co.washington.pa.us has more details.

Michael Silvestri, Peters Township manager, said Tuesday that the municipality is seeking proposals from firms including eLoop, with which it has dealt for about 4 1/2 years.

“We collected a lot of material,” Silvestri said, Last year it was 142,897 pounds. We’ve collected at least two to six tons.” A notice on the township website lets residents know there may be a small fee when a new program begins.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today