Schenectady saving cash due to recyclingThursday, June 4, 2009
By Kathleen Moore (Contact)
Gazette Reporter
SCHENECTADY — Residents are throwing tons of paper into recycling bins instead of in the trash, saving the city $40,000 so far this year in dumping fees.
In January, the city began urging residents to recycle, and based on the numbers, they responded well.
In one month, residents set aside an additional three tons of paper. In the next month, they recycled 16 tons more than they had in January.
By April, the city was recycling 125 tons of paper — up from 93 tons in January. That’s a remarkable achievement considering the light weight of paper, County Waste manager Ron Benson said. His company sorts and sells the city’s material.
“To have these kind of jumps is really a good effort,” he said.
It’s still only slightly higher than last year because recycling naturally climbs over the course of the summer. But this year’s increases are higher than normal.
Container recycling rose, too. The city recycled 57 tons of glass, metal and plastic in February, 63 tons in March and 67 tons in April.
But residents backtracked in May. Paper recycling fell to 107 tons — still higher than January — and container recycling fell to 58 tons.................>>>>............>>>>...................
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jun/04/0604_recycling/