Recycling program resumes in county

Published 9:35 am Thursday, January 3, 2019

Following a several month layoff due to an issue with the contract, the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District recycling program has resumed in Lawrence and Scioto counties.

Toward the end of 2018, the district came to a new contract with Rumpke after its former contract with Republic was nullified for Republic not being able to fill its requirements, causing a temporary end to the program.

While there aren’t many changes to the recycling program under the new contract, district director Dan Palmer said one notable change was the elimination of the Walmart/Sam’s Club site in South Point. He said one of the main factors in the decision to shut the location down was the abundance of residents from West Virginia using the containers, and oftentimes disposing of trash and other non-recyclable materials.

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Palmer said that the service is something that the residents of Lawrence and Scioto counties pay for through a parcel fee, and it wasn’t fair to them for people from West Virginia to abuse the site.

In addition to the Walmart/Sam’s Club location, former recycling sites at Chesapeake Elementary School, Ironton Middle School and Ohio University Southern in Hanging Rock were also cut in Lawrence County.

All in all, the district went from 38 sites with 94 containers between the two counties to 30 sites with 76 containers. In Lawrence County specifically, there are now 30 containers over 12 sites.

Materials accepted in the recycling containers include office paper, junk mail, folders, cardboard (flattened), magazines, catalogs, telephone books, newspapers, inserts, clean pizza boxes, plastic bottles and jugs, cartons (straws and caps removed), and aluminum, steel and tin cans.

Items that will not be accepted include plastic bags, Styrofoam, medical sharps or syringes, windows or drinking glass, coat hangers or scrap metal and any plastics that are not bottles or jugs.

The updated list of recycling sites in Lawrence County is as follows:

• Foodfair, 7604 State Route 7, Proctorville; seven containers.

• Paul Porter Park, 221 Lane St., Coal Grove; two containers.

• Lawrence County Fairgrounds, 7755 County Road 107, Proctorville; two containers.

• Kroger, 6232 County Road 107, Proctorville; five containers.

• Ohio University Southern, 1804 Liberty Ave., Ironton; two containers.

• Ironton City Center, 301 S. Third St., Ironton; two containers.

• Wayne National Forest, 6518 State Route 93, Pedro; two containers.

• Rome Township Trustees Building, 9666 State Route 7, Proctorville; two containers.

• Lawrence County Educational Service Center, 304 N. Second St., Ironton; two containers.

• Foodfair, 409 Solida Road, South Point; two containers.

• Lawrence County Municipal Court, 10916 County Road 1, Chesapeake; one container.

• Burlington-Fayette Volunteer Fire Department, 7681 County Road 1, Burlington; one container.