Recycling effort wins recognition

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The Green Team is one of 11 organizations nationwide chosen for the award.

By NANCY TULLIS

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A national award to Mahoning County Commissioners' Reuse and Recycling Division — the Green Team — from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the result of a successful waste-reduction program by the entire community, said Jim Petuch, Green Team director.

Petuch will travel to Washington, D.C., on Thursday to accept an EPA Community Involvement Gold Achievement Award. He emphasized the award is for the reuse and recycling efforts of Mahoning County residents and owners of business and industry in the county.

The EPA will present 11 Gold Achievement Awards at the 2006 WasteWise annual conference. EPA officials said Gold Achievement Award recipients are organizations that have made the WasteWise program a success through a sustained commitment to waste reduction.

The Green Team participates in WasteWise, a free and voluntary partnership program launched by the federal agency in 1994. WasteWise provides guidance and recognition to organizations working to find practical methods to reduce municipal solid waste and improve financial performance, Petuch said.

Through public education and working directly with government, business, industry and residents, the Green Team promotes four concepts — reduce, reuse, recycle and don't litter, Petuch said.

He said the Green Team started its business recycling program in 2005, and during that year, 160 businesses committed to reduce municipal and industrial waste through recycling.

Various programs

He said the Green Team gave about 750 waste-reduction presentations to county schools and civic groups in 2005, then helped the community put what it learned into action by conducting backyard composting workshops.

The result of those efforts was around 40 tons of organic material composted, and around 4,000 tons of municipal waste and 30,000 tons of industrial waste that did not go into landfills, he added.

The award is for the county's 2005 efforts, Petuch said. Now there are 210 businesses that participate in the business recycling program, he said.

Much of the county's success in reducing waste that would otherwise go into landfills is through reuse programs such as Youngstown State University's re:Create Program, Petuch said. After returning from Washington, Petuch will leave Saturday to give a presentation on waste reuse and YSU's on Oct. 24 at the National Recycling Coalition annual conference in Atlanta.

The YSU recycling program sponsors events such as a dump-and-run, where people bring items they no longer want but can still be used. Others then take home the items they find usable, he said.

Re:Create staff unites individuals and groups who have reusable material with other individuals and groups that can use them, he said.

For example re:Create collects unwanted desks and other metal office equipment for use by local charities and other groups.

Reuse is even more efficient than recycling in many cases because for a large item such as a metal desk, a lot of energy and human effort is required to recycle it, Petuch said.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006