SMETHPORT (EC) — The new McKean County Recycling Center has reopened at its former location, the Good Growing Gardens on U.S. Route 6 west of Smethport.
The hours are 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday and Friday; and 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. To deposit recyclables after hours and on Saturdays and Sundays, people must have a key fob, which cost $10 annually and are available at the McKean County Planning Commission offices at 17137 Route 6, Smethport.
Mike Barnard, community service coordinator for the McKean County Adult Probation Department and supervisor for the 3G project, said, “There are only two of these compactors in the county; the other is at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.”
Signs on the fence surrounding the compactor tell which recyclables are and are not acceptable. Acceptable materials are plastics (#1-7), cardboard, tin cans, glass bottles, newspapers, catalogs, paper bags, aluminum cans and shredded paper if placed in clear bags. Plastics, tin cans, glass bottles and aluminum cans should be rinsed.
Absolutely no trash bags or grocery bags should be thrown into the compactor. One sign instructs people to “Please empty all recyclables from the bags and take home to be reused.”
Surveillance cameras will be in use 24 hours a day at this well-lighted site to record illegal dumping and items left outside. Offenders will be reported to magisterial district judges and prosecuted.
Barnard mentioned one advantage of the public using this compactor, saying, “We’re now on a pace to keeping 600 tons of recyclables out of the county landfill, which will extend the life of that facility.”
Barnard said, “The bins, cameras, fencing, concrete and lighting were all paid through an Act 101 Recycling Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection.”
