Published: Sunday, April 8, 2007
Salem, Columbiana ratchet up recycling efforts
In Ohio, recycling is voluntary.
SALEM — Salem soon may be going neck to neck with Columbiana in recycling.
It's not a race between the two cities but an indication that recycling is growing in Columbiana County.
Salem opened a new recycling center next to its fire station earlier this year. It had closed its old center several years ago after people dumped furniture and garbage at the site.
Chris Jacobs, the director of the Carroll-Columbiana-Harrison Solid Waste District, said the new Salem site has taken off.
"In March, it began filling up," Jacobs said.
Salem has eight recycling containers, as does Columbiana.
The Salem area actually has three sites. There are containers at the Kent State University campus south of Salem. BFI in the city's industrial park also takes some items.
Last year, the state had districts increase efforts to collect recyclable materials.
Columbiana County went with a plan to make recycling bins available to 90 percent of the population.
Andrew Booker, a supervisor at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, said the 90-percent figure is based on a formula that awards points for different types of recycling programs. As part of its effort, Columbiana County also added more than eight new sites in the county.
Jacobs said the recycling containers are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A look at the numbers
The district's efforts increased collections to 2,285,160 pounds of material in Columbiana County in 2006. That compares with 2,119,460 pounds in 2005 and 2,082,510 pounds in 2004.
And people in Columbiana County apparently like to recycle. Since the program began in 1994, the numbers have grown steadily except for a slight drop in 2004.
The collections in Carroll and Harrison have remained much smaller.
Jacobs estimates that about 41 percent of all recyclable materials in the Columbiana County — industrial and residential — are recycled.
Recycling is voluntary in Ohio. Booker said that the latest state figures show that about 23 percent of commercial and residential recyclables in Ohio were recycled in 2004.
Booker pointed out that figures in recycling are traditionally hard to nail down.
One reason that the district works with private companies that also directly take items. S&S Salvage in Salem will be taking used appliances from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 19. People will have to transport the appliance to the company.
There are also other companies in the area that will take used computers.
And Jacobs said that recycling is also only one part of the program. The district also has information on litter prevention. The district can also provide information to companies on ways to limit use of paper and other products, and how to set up containers for different materials at their businesses that makes recycling easier.
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