County Waste rolling out new recycling bins in Clifton Park

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

County Waste garbage service customers in the town will soon be seeing a new container for recycled materials such as cans, bottles, plastic and paper, a company representative said Monday.

Called “single stream recycling,” County Waste will be replacing the rectangular plastic recycling bins with recycling barrels with wheels on them, similar to those currently used for garbage only.

Scott Earl of County Waste said at Monday’s Town Board meeting that 9,000 of the new recycling containers have been distributed so far in the Capital Region and the results have been very favorable.

For example, in the Ushers Road and Country Knolls South area of Clifton Park where the new recycling barrels have been distributed, there has been a 26 percent increase in recycling, according to Earl.

The new recycling system will allow homeowners to set out their recycled materials every week, rather than every other week. Earl said new compartmentalized garbage trucks were purchased for the new system and have one bin for normal garbage and one bin just for recycled materials.

County Waste has created a $7 million recycling complex at the Port of Albany that automatically separates the recycled materials for shipment to the appropriate markets, Earl said.

The company will now take all types of plastic from number one to number 7 type plastic containers, Earl said.

Supervisor Philip Barrett said most town residents will be seeing the new recycling barrels in the coming weeks.

“It’s an upgrade in service,” Barrett said.

He said County Waste and the town have a good relationship, with the company providing yard waste days.

Board member Scott Hughes said County Waste is on the “cutting edge” of the recycling market and is to be “commended” for it.

Before the County Waste presentation, the Town Board held its organizational meeting with new member James J. Romano of Rexford being sworn in along with longtime Town Board member Lynda Walowit, Barrett, County Supervisor Anita Daly, Town Clerk Pat O’Donnell and Highway Superintendent Richard Kukuk, all of whom were re-elected to new terms in November.

Romano, a Republican like the rest of the board members, is retired from National Grid after 32 years of service. He was elected in November to a seat held for many years by Sanford Roth. Roth decided not to seek re-election after serving for 17 years.

Romano spent seven years on the town Planning Board and 10 years as co-chairman of the town Open Space Committee. He and his wife have two grown children.

The board also approved a five-year contract with one of the town’s two Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) bargaining units. This unit, Local 846, will get the same series of raises starting at 3 percent the first year that the other unit received, according to town officials.