Department
of Streets Highways & Public Improvements Director, Councilwoman Portia
West, formally announced the rollout of the Chester recycling outreach campaign
beginning with a press conference scheduled for Thursday August 8th
at 11:00AM inside Chester City Hall to present the campaign, which will begin
with a Zero Waste initiative beginning with Chester City Hall an extending
throughout additional municipal buildings to divert 100 percent of the waste
from incineration through recycling. The City of Chester will be setting
an example for Chester citizens as well as other Delaware County municipalities
to follow.
“Increasing
the amount of people who are participating in recycling is a win-win for
everybody”, West said. “Increased recycling will promote cleanliness, reduce
the volume of trash and support once a week trash collection. In the weeks to
come we will work with our churches and community block associations to
increase participation in recycling targeting a 20 percent diversion rate by
August 2014.”
The
recycling campaign will begin at City Hall, and continue in the following weeks
to the Police and Fire Department, the Boys and Girls Clubs, followed by the
Library. These buildings will become Delaware County’s first municipal
Zero Waste facilities. Suburban Waste Services, the company that handles the
city’s trash and recycling collection services, will implement the program.
Currently the city of Chester produces 1100 tons of waste each month, but only
recycles 25 tons or 2.5 percent. “At 20 percent the City of Chester would recover
220 tons per month. “At the cost of $33 for each ton of waste sent to the
incinerator, Chester will save over $90,000 per year by increasing its
divergent rate to 20 percent. Zero Waste will be achieved through single stream
recycling of the office and dry waste, composting of the washroom towel waste,
coffee stations and cafeteria food and soiled paper wastes” explained Suburban
CEO David Dilenno.
The
City of Chester has submitted grant proposals to the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection to receive recycling collection containers for
distribution free-of-charge to City residents. Additional information on
the Campaign and flyer on what to recycle can be found here
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