Laurel Highlands Today

The Fayette County Recycling Program has once again expanded its services - just in time for America Recycles Day. 

Observed annually on Nov. 15, America Recycles Day, also known as National Recycling Day, recognizes the importance and impact of recycling and protecting our environment.  

This year, the holiday will also serve as the official kickoff for the county’s new Foam Recycling Project.  

“About three months after we opened our Recycling Convenience Center, residents started asking us to accept foam products,” Recycling Coordinator and Stormwater Manager Sheila Shea said. “We had so many requests. It really highlighted how much of a need there was for this in the county, so we’re excited to be able to offer a service that our citizens asked for.”  

Shipping and food-grade foam products of any color are now accepted at the Fayette County Recycling Convenience Center at 105 Romeo Lane in Uniontown. The products are only accepted at the center and should not be placed in the county’s green recycling bins.  

Foam polystyrene materials, which must be clean and empty with all tape and labels removed, include:

• Cups
• Takeout containers
• Meat trays
• Egg cartons
• Foam coolers
• Packaging from furniture, televisions and other electronics

Residents’ recycled foam products can now be densified on site at the Romeo Lane facility, thanks to a $49,000 grant the recycling program recently received from the Foam Recycling Coalition.  

“The grant allowed us to purchase our new foam densifier from Foam Cycle, a company we learned about from our friends at Westmoreland Cleanways in Greensburg. They’ve had a lot of success with their foam program, so they connected us with Foam Cycle President Lou Troiano, and the rest is history,” Shea said. 

Headquartered in Augusta, N.J., Foam Cycle is the first foam packaging recycling system designed for use by municipal recycling programs. According to Foam Cycle’s website, www.foamcycle.com, foam packaging, “also known as Styrofoam, is one of the most plentiful, yet least recycled plastics in existence today.”  

Shea, along with Fayette County Commissioners Dave Lohr, Vince Vicites and Scott Dunn; and county employees George Wyland, Bruce Klink and Mary Over, recently received a densifier demonstration from Foam Cycle’s Renee Garrin, as part of the county’s training on the machinery’s use. Shea said the densifier makes the foam recycling process “extremely simple and convenient.” 

“Residents bring us their foam, and we put it into our machine, which densifies it into a compacted material that can be sold to end users for recycling. That material can be turned into molding, picture frames, decking - whatever the specific end user wants to use it for,” Shea said. “I think this is a great way to expand the program and further our work to keep Fayette County green.”  

The Fayette County Recycling Program is also observing America Recycles Day by releasing its first promotional video. Created in partnership with the Fayette County Public Relations Initiative and Fayette County TV, the video takes viewers behind the scenes of the recycling program and even features the FoamCycle densifier in action. 

“We hope the video will help shed some light on our process here at the center and our recycling bin program,” Shea said. “It’s only a few minutes long, but it teaches you so much about the program. We hope it will make recycling easier for our residents and attract some new recyclers.”  

The video will be available on the Fayette County Recycling Convenience Center Facebook page, “@FayetteCoRecycling,” on Nov. 15. You can also tune in on the Fayette County PA Youtube Channel, Fayette County TV (Channel 77 on Breezeline and QCOL Cable TV) and Armstrong Cable. 

Additionally, the recycling program was recently featured in the season two finale episode of the Good Government Show Podcast.  

Broadcast nationally on such streaming platforms as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible and more, the Good Government Show aims to combat the stream of negative news coverage with positive stories about local government projects.  

“It was an honor to be chosen for a national podcast,” Shea said. “I never imagined the work we do here would reach so many people. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to share our program with the nation.”  

Hosted by journalists David Martin and Carol D’Auria, the podcast covers a new project in each episode. According to the show’s website, local government employees, legislators, citizens and more share their “personal and amazing stories of good government doing good work for good people.”  

The episode is streaming now on the recycling program’s Facebook page, on the podcast platforms listed above, and at www.GoodGovernmentShow.com.  

For more information about the Fayette County Recycling Program, contact Sheila Shea at sshea@fayettepa.org.   

To learn more about Fayette County, visit www.FayetteCountyPA.org. 

Editor's Note: Image attached (National Recycling Day; National Recycling Day2; National Recycling Day3; National Recycling Day4) 

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This communication, among other initiatives, is funded through the 2016 Fayette County Local Share Account (LSA) in cooperation with the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, Fayette Chamber of Commerce, The Redevelopment Authority of the County of Fayette, The Redstone Foundation and other partners. This funding has been designated for the continued promotion and marketing of Fayette County, PA.

For more information, contact Kristi Kassimer Harper, Public Relations Specialist, at 412-691-0262, kkassimer@fayettecountypa.info or Kaylie Moore, Community Relations Coordinator, at 724-430-1200 Ext. 1611, kmoore@fayettepa.org.

Original source can be found here.