These 902 grants have been used to fund Montgomery County’s stellar municipal recycling programs. From paying for recycling containers to collection trucks to facilities; these funds have yielded tremendous returns for the investment and have lead to private investment also. The next column shows just this year’s Montgomery County Awards. Over the life of the program tens of millions of dollars have flowed into Montgomery County municipal recycling programs.

DEP has announced that this year will be the last for these grants without reauthorization.

Cheltenham Township—– $184,144

Conshohocken Borough— $103,491

Pottstown Borough ——— $24,980

Springfield Twnshp ——–– $152,487

Upper Dublin —————– $195,000

Upper Moreland ————– $139,608

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Good news! For the second straight year Montgomery County has increased the tonnage and percentage recycled. We have recycled over 1/4 million tons for the second straight year. If this material wasn’t recycled, we would be throwing away close to 1 million tons. Each Montgomery County resident recycled an average of 665 pounds of recyclables in 2005; up 10 pounds from 2004. The recycling tonnage rose 4.5%, and helped to place Montgomery County’s recycling rate at 28%. The Commonwealth has reached it’s goal of 35%. We have a way to go to reach 35%, but with continued funding, Montgomery County can beat any other county in the Commonwealth.

2004 Montgomery Co. Recycling Performance Grants to Date

Abington Township -- $378,282

Cheltenham Township -- $70,755

Conshohocken Borough -- $10,012

Douglass Township -- $69,935

Jenkintown Borough -- $4,358

Lansdale Borough -- $71,493

Limerick Township -- $24,336

Lower Moreland Township -- $21,550

Lower Pottsgrove Township -- $44,893

Narberth Borough -- $11,901

North Wales Borough -- $6,298

New Hanover Township -- $13,140

Perkiomen Township -- $ 8,598

Plymouth Township -- $33,086

Rockledge Borough -- $6,844

Royersford Borough -- $3,749

Schwenksville Borough -- $142

Skippack Township -- $15,688

Springfield Township -- $112,877

Trappe Borough -- $4,392

Upper Dublin Township -- $59,693

Upper Gwynned Township -- $51,968

Upper Merion Township -- $265,797

Upper Pottsgrove Township -- $8,240

Upper Moreland Township -- $35,545

West Conshohocken Borough -- $5,327

Whitemarsh Township -- $ 53,884

Whitpain Township -- $48,764

With just over half of the DEP recycling performance grants announced, Montgomery County municipalities have received over $1.44 million.

Performance grants are calculated based on the tonnage of residential and commercial recycling of Act 101 materials. Extra awards are given to programs that increase their overall recycling percentage and commercial recycling.

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Spotlight: Blue Mountain’s Third Facility Opens in Montgomeryville

Blue Mountain Recycling has just been in business for a little over 5 years and already has grown to three facilities. It’s newest opened in January on Route 309 in Montgomeryville.

Owners David DiIenno and Herb Northrop have invested millions of dollars in the latest recycling technologies. They have the most recent single-stream equipment; only the 2nd single-stream system in the Commonwealth.

In cooperation with RecycleBank and the City of Philadelphia , Blue Mountain is processing the recyclable material from the pioneering pilot; the first in the nation.

Merck was honored for its recycling program (in the commercial/institutional recycling category). Approximately 2,500 tons of material was recycled in 2003, which equals more than 25 percent of the company's waste. Materials recycled range from office paper and aluminum cans to activated carbon used for portable water filtration. A portion of program proceeds go to help The Indian Creek Foundation.

Waste Watcher Award to Upper Merion Township, represented by Scott Sibley, Board of Supervisors Vice-Chair (2nd from right), and Township Manager Ronald G. Wagenmann (right). State Representative Daylin Leach (2nd from left) offered remarks regarding state environmental efforts.

Upper Merion Township was honored for their recycling education program. They utilize multiple mediums to reach their target audience - visual and print media, contests, recycling mascot appearances, Good Neighbor recognition and summer video camp programs, PSAs and other shows aired over their government access channel. They've won Waste Watcher awards for most of the past seven years.

We’re on the Web

Delaware is considering a statewide curbside recycling program.

6 states currently have landfill bans on CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes) from monitors and TVs. The most aggressive is in Maine where a fee is placed on electronic purchases and manufacturers are charged for the recycling of their own brands.

EPA is working on increasing the amount of fluorescent bulbs diverted from landfills.

Nationally, aluminum can and plastic bottle recycling rates are declining for the third year in a row.

Carpet manufactures are having trouble finding enough PETE (soda bottles); due to increased overseas demand, higher oil prices, and declining plastic diversion (-1%).

Glass markets continue to be flat, as nationally only 25% of the 12 million tons of glass generated each year gets recycled.

In 2004 the US exported 12.82 million metric tons (mmt) of scrap paper, 11.8 mmt of steel, 1.62 billion pounds of scrap plastic, and 1.46 billion pounds of aluminum. Aluminum scrap alone accounted for $882 million in trade.

Disposal of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) in pressure treated wood is meeting with more regulations.

In 2004 PA recycled 4.4 million tons. Sales of these recyclables brought $68 million in revenues. Avoided disposal costs saved Pennsylvanians $240 million dollars.