Solid waste accepting electronics

FOLLANSBEE - The Brooke County Solid Waste Authority will continue to accept a variety of electronic appliances and devices at its storage facility in Beech Bottom from Brooke County residents through Sept. 15.

Rebecca Harlan, the board's recycling coordinator, said enough money was left over from an $18,200 grant awarded by the state Department of Environmental Protection that funded a collection on June 5 .

Harlan said the collection was successful, with about 38,000 pounds of electronic devices, including computer, video and audio equipment, cellular phones and small appliances, received.

She said as with the June 5 collection, the board will continue to accept, between 8 a.m. and noon weekdays, the following items:

Answering machines, computer copiers, cellular phones, CD and DVD players, VCRs, camcorders, calculators, digital cameras, electric typewriters, electric wire fax machines, video game systems, hard drives and various computer equipment, microwave ovens, projectors, pagers, radios, remote control devices, stereos, televisions and telephones.

While small household items will be accepted, officials involved with the collection won't accept large items such as dryers, washers, stoves, dishwashers, hot water tanks, refrigerators, freezers or air conditioners or any type of light bulbs or ballasts, smoke detectors or household or commercial batteries.

The items may be brought to the board's storage building, which is near the county's future animal shelter at the former site of the Windsor Coal Co. off state Route 2 south of Beech Bottom.

A sign for the access road, which has been named Mac Barnes Drive, will be posted in the near future.

Only Brooke County residents may participate in the collection and participants will be asked to produce proof of their residence.

Anyone with questions may call (304) 527-3947 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Harlan said the board plans to apply again for the grant, which came through the state Division of Environmental Protection's Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan program, to conduct another collection next year, either on one day or over an extended period.

In other business:

Harlan told the board bales of recyclable plastics are being kept at the storage building until a truckload has been accumulated. She said the number of plastics deposited in the board's bins has increased steadily, with pickups needed on a weekly basis for most.

Earlier this year the board began accepting plastic containers bearing the numbers 1 or 2 and residents have deposited aluminum and tin cans and paper for many years.

The bins are near Hooverson Heights Primary School, Follansbee Park, Brooke High School, Wellsburg Middle School, the Wellsburg Rite Aid and the corner of College and Richardson streets in Bethany.

Approved a $76,000 budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year. Board Chairman Glenn Kocher said the budget is tighter, reflecting a drop in tipping fees received by the Brooke County Landfill.

The board receives 50 cents of the $8.25 tipping fee charged for each ton of residential refuse brought to the landfill, but the tonage collected by the landfill has dropped greatly, Kocher said.

Harlan said in addition to the 50 cents, a portion of the tipping fee is collected by the state and reimbursed to solid waste boards throughout the state.

The board also relies on grants from the state Division of Environmental Protection and state Solid Waste Management Board, which vary from year to year.

The board moved to approve updates to its litter and solid waste control plan and solid waste facility siting plan, pending written comment from the public, which may be submitted up to Aug. 7 to the board's office at 231 Rockdale Road, Follansbee.

The condition was made because the board meets only quarterly, with its next regular meeting not set to be held until January.

The plans, which must be updated every five years, outline the board's recycling program, open dump policy and cleanup efforts and identify local landfill and solid waste hurtles.

Harlan said changes to the plans involved statistical data, such as fees collected by the landfill and population figures.

Copies can be reviewed at the board's office, the Brooke County clerk's office at the Brooke County Courthouse, Brooke County Public Library and its Follansbee branch, Mary H. Weir Public Library and Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission's office at 124 North Fourth St., Steubenville.

The board discussed replacing the truck used to haul the materials from the bins to the storage building. Kocher said the board is faced with costly repairs to the truck and has secured a $43,685 state grant for a new one.

But the low bid received for the truck exceeds the grant by about $13,000.

Harlan said the bid also was for a conventional truck, not a cabover, as the board had advertised, so it may have to re-advertise.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com)