The Lancaster-Fairfield Community Action Agency last year recycled almost 5 million pounds of waste that would have otherwise ended up in landfills. “We’re all about recycling,” education coordinator Chad Reed said. “And we really try to promote it and practice what we preach. We try to encourage people to buy recycled and to keep that process going.”
The agency started its non-profit recycling program in the early 1980s as a pilot program to train those needing job skills. “After five years it became completely self-sufficient,” Reed said. “We started out as a buy-back program where we just basically purchased scrap metals and aluminum cans from the public. And that quickly expanded into what we’re doing now. We take all kinds of different things other than just metals.”
Besides aluminum cans, the list of accepted items includes tin cans, glass bottles and jars, paper and cardboard.
The paper must be able to absorb water, which excludes wax paper and laminated paper. People can also drop off used motor oil, which is then used to heat the recycling center. “So that’s a tremendous help to us,” Reed said. “It really helps us with our energy costs tremendously.”
In 2006, the CAA opened the recycling building it now occupies at 1761 E. Main St. It also has 26 drop-off containers throughout Fairfield County. Its funding comes partly from the Coshocton-Fairfield-Licking-Perry Solid Waste District and from the sale of recyclables it collects. “We also do a commercial/institutional collection route,” Reed said. “We go to businesses, offices, schools, industries, and pick up all different type of recycled materials and bring it back here and process it.”
To read the full story, visit http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/story/news/local/2016/05/28/recycling-program-helps-keep-garbage-landfills/84537842/.