Recycling for the future
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The grant requires 30 percent matching funds from the county, which comes to $6,874 this year. The grant is part of an ongoing multi-year effort to encourage and facilitate recycling. Over the past several years these grants have resulted in well over $100,000 in grant money for the county, according to sanitation director Steve Hillis.
Director of accounts Linda Hillis has been instrumental in aiding Hillis, who is not related, to apply for these grants which are made available by the state every year.
“This is equipment that the county probably would not receive, that we probably would not be able to purchase this year if were not for the grant money,” she said, adding that the program provides multiple benefits.
“It helps in two ways,” she said. “We’re able to sell the materials we recycle, so we’re getting money in from those items, and it’s saving us in tipping fees at the land fills. So it’s really saving us in two different ways.”
Steve Hillis agrees and says recycling is a major part of the county’s waste disposal system, but also has global implications for the environment, even at the local level.
“It’s all about landfill reduction,” he said. “Cutting down on anything that goes into landfills is good for the environment.”
The three main materials the county recycles are newspapers, cardboard, and metals, including aluminum which is handled separately from other types of metal.
The convenience center at the fairgrounds also accepts used batteries, appliances, furniture, used oil and on Wednesday only, used tires can be disposed of – all at no charge to county residents.
Hillis had made applying for the yearly grants part of his duties as sanitation director, and says they are actually pretty easy to get if you make an effort to apply for them. Hillis says this year’s grant will be used to expand the county’s recycling program, adding bins to outlying convenience centers and making it more convenient for county residents to join in recycling.
People around the county are taking recycling to heart. One resident, Warren County High School teacher Debbie Dunham, gave her reasons for recycling.
“I’ve been into recycling for years,” she said after depositing some newsprint into the paper bin.
“I’m just trying to do my part. Every time I go up to see my son in college I go up on the mountain and I see trees stripped everywhere, and it’s starting to worry me just a little bit. I think we need to save some trees.”