Recyclables accepted at landfill while Delmont Lions Club looks for new site

While the Delmont Lions Club works on a home for its recycling program, Delmont residents have another opportunity to recycle close to home.

Valley Landfill, on Pleasant Valley Road in Murrysville, accepts commingled plastics Nos. 1 through 5, glass bottles, cans and broken-down corrugated cardboard Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Lions Club member Christy Bash said she is glad residents have another option for recycling after Delmont council voted last month to require that the group move its collection point, which was near the borough's public works building.

The club voted to close the collection point at its February board meeting.

“There isn't anywhere else in the municipality that is suitable,” Bash said. “We need a covered building for the plastic compactor.”

The club is also seeking a place for its paper collection bins.

Council's vote was based on a mock audit conducted by its engineering firm, Lennon Smith Souleret. Engineer Gary Baird said recycling containers on the pavement at the collection point could create a storm water runoff issue that could rise to the level of a state Department of Environmental Protection violation.

Bash said the Lions Club has spoken with environmental officials and were told that is not the case.

“Based on what our club was told ... it seems that the practice audit that the borough engineer conducted was not based on a realistic expectation of an actual audit, and that the items we recycled would not pose a problem in any case,” Bash said.

Ellen Keefe, executive director for Westmoreland Cleanways, which coordinates recycling throughout Westmoreland County, said any issues identified at the Lions recycling site could be easily and quickly resolved.

“Trailers where recycling is stored are right next to a creek bank,” Keefe said. “And the engineer's point was that rainwater would be running through these recyclables, but we're not talking about heavy metals, waste oil or anything that would be difficult to recycle. We're talking about soup cans, jars and plastic bottles.”

Borough Engineer Gary Baird told council members last week that the location of the recycling facility itself was not an environmental violation.

Keefe said a solution would have been as simple as installing “filter socks,” mesh tubes usually filled with straw or other material to filter stormwater runoff along the top of the creek bank.

Keefe said programs like the Lions' do not require environmental permits.

“They're not considered hazardous sites, and there's nothing that would indicate any serious problems that the club was not addressing,” she said.

At council's March 8 meeting, President Jim Bortz said the mock audit was not the sole reason the decision was made.

“We need a good deal of that space for construction, and that was not brought up at last month's meeting,” said Bortz, who also offered to work with the club on finding another location for the program.

Bash's husband, Ross, said in light of Bortz's comments, he wished council would have chosen to simply suspend the program until construction was complete.

“That option was never on the table,” he said.

Information about recycling at the Valley Landfill, as well as paper recycling — which can be dropped off at the Royal Oak recycling containers at the Berkshire Hathaway office, 4420 William Penn Highway in Murrysville — is available at Westmorelandcleanways.org or by emailing info@westmorelandcleanways.org.

Patrick Varine is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. He can be reached at 724-850-2862 or pvarine@tribweb.com.