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Recyclable deal with Greene Co. saves Ulster agency money

Jan 06, 2021 5:45 am

William J. Kemble is reporting for the Daily Freeman the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency is finding their decision to swap recyclables with Greene County has proven financially beneficial. “They actually take our glass now, and we take their commingled [paper and plastics] and their news[print],” said Tim DeGraff, interim director of the Ulster agency. Greene County Solid Waster Director Paul Vosburgh said the glass will be used as supplemental material for paving roads at the planned composting station on state Route 385 in Catskill. “We are using a lot of the glass for our roadway, and we have a contract with County Waste to take the excess that we don’t use,” Vosburgh said. The recovery agency took in approximately 626 tons of glass during the first 11 months of 2020, but, because of the arrangement with Greene County, it has not had to pay glass disposal costs since August. Ulster County no longer has any cost associated with recycling glass because Greene takes it for free, DeGraff said. And the recycled newsprint market is stronger — it has gone from a $40-per-ton expense in February to a $20-per-ton profit in each of the past five months. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.