ST. MARYS — Given that there are several other options for medicine collection in Elk County, the Elk County Solid Waste Authority will not be having any medicine collection events in 2017.
For the past eight years, the authority has hosted medicine collections in Elk County, but due to increased costs and alternative options available to residents, the authority’s board decided not to continue the program in 2017.
One of the main factors contributing to the decision was the cost of the program.
According to Bekki Titchner, Elk County recycling and solid waste coordinator, the authority has spent $50,000 on the medicine collections from the past eight years.
She added that the program could cost the authority $10,000 in 2017, which would be difficult to pay with the authority still retrofitting its facilities.
Any medicine collection in 2017 would cost the authority more money as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has removed medicine collections from its list for grant reimbursement.
In the past, the DEP has funded 50 percent of the authority’s costs for the program.
In addition to increased costs, the service has become available elsewhere. Several other entities apart from the authority are offering the service in Elk County.
The DEA has several collections throughout the year, and since September, the county’s three police departments have been collecting used medicine through dropoff boxes.
Since being put into place, the drop-off locations have collected approximately 100 pounds of used medicine.
The locations are available to the public in the Johnsonburg Borough Police Department, the Ridgway Police Department, the City of St. Marys Police Department and the Elk County Sheriff’s Department.
While the authority has decided to discontinue the program, it was still a successful program for the authority.
In the last medicine collection in October, the authority collected over 500 pounds of medicine from about 130 people. Over the eight-year period in which the authority hosted collections, it took in over 4,000 pounds of used medicine.
While the authority won’t be hosting medicine collections in 2017, it has plenty of business at its new facilities on Washington Street.
Titchner estimates that the center could surpass 300,000 pounds of electronics recycled and 1,000,000 pounds of cardboard recycled in 2016.
This material has been collected as the authority continues to retrofit its building.
Plans to install drains throughout the building are still ongoing, and the authority expects to have a sortline installed in the facility by the end of 2016 or the very early parts of 2017.
