SENECA —
When Ontario County constructed a pole barn for its recycling
program during the late 1980s, it was designed so it could be
converted into a storage building for salt, just in case the program
didn’t last.
But clearly, recycling’s here to stay. In a big way.
A new home for the local program has been built less than 100
feet from that old pole barn on Routes 5&20. The “single-stream”
recycling building was hailed as part of the “next step of
evolution” of the industry during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday
night.
About 100 representatives from Casella Waste Management, the
Vermont company that runs the Ontario County landfill, along with
county, town and state officials, came together to unveil the $13
million, state-of-the-art facility.
Housed inside the 68,000-square-foot metal-sided structure is a
mechanical system — weighing at least 100 tons and larger than a
baseball diamond — that will sort plastic, glass, newspaper and
fiber products, company officials said.
As a result, residents will no longer have to divide those
products up when they place them in their recycling containers at
home, said Sean Duffy, president of FCR, the Casella-affiliated
company that will run the new facility.
It’s the only single-stream recycling facility in the Central New
York region, Duffy said. The advent of such recycling facilities
will help Casella and the entire industry enjoy “sustainability,”
said company president John Casella.
Both county and company officials stressed the partnership that
Ontario County and Casella have enjoyed since the firm signed a
25-year lease to run the landfill about two years ago.
“This facility was just a dream three years ago,” said Tim
Cretney, Casella’s regional director.
Canandaigua City Supervisor David Baker told the crowd that the
county “was putting money in a hole in the ground and doing nothing”
before Casella came into the picture.
County Administrator Geoff Astles said he remembered being told
an interesting fact during negotiations with Casella — that the
company recycles more material every year than it puts in the
landfills it runs in the Northeast. That impressed Astles and other
county officials, he said.
Handling 1.3 million tons of material annually, FCR operates 25
other recycling facilities in 15 states.
Employing 21 people in two shifts, the facility can recycle up to
80,000 tons of material a year. Trucks will drop off recyclables at
one end of the building; it will then be sorted and put on trucks at
the other end before being hauled away by venders.
