Delaware reduces number of recycling centers to 13

Drop-off recycling centers with multicolored bins available all the time, a fixture across Delaware since 1990, are being eliminated this year.

In their place will be 13 staffed centers, open 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

The amount recycled through them has been going down, the Delaware Solid Waste Authority has concluded, with the amount of trash dropped off going up.

“Why have bins to collect recyclables when it’s not usable, contaminated by trash?” authority spokesman Mike Parkowski said.

The consolidation is another evolution of the system, which began with consumers separating their recycling by type into different bins. In 2009, single-stream recycling eliminated that hassle, and a 2011 law required trash services to offer curbside recycling, reducing interest in the centers.

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That’s why the amount collected through the 31 recycling centers has fallen to 6,000 tons a year, down from 40,000 tons at their peak, when there were 180 centers. But, thanks to curbside recycling, the amount recycled overall in the state has hit 97,000 tons, he said.

The change is “cost-neutral” to the authority, he said, with the people used to collect from the various centers being redeployed elsewhere. For example, requests for household hazardous waste collection, electronics recycling and paper shredding are increasing.

Tom Lagana, an avid recycler from Brandywine Hundred, is disappointed to see the change.

“I hate to throw anything out,” he added, noting that he frequently offers items he no longer wants on the free section of Craigslist and www.freecycle.org. “I prefer to reuse things.”

When the consolidation is finished, the authority will have four major drop-off centers: the Cheswold Collection Station, the Delaware Recycling Center in New Castle, the Jones Crossroads Landfill in Georgetown and a new center in the Newark area. They will take “electronics, single-stream recycling, cardboard, household batteries, used oil and oil filters and Styrofoam. There will also be a household hazardous waste event once a week and a paper shredding/latex paint collection event once a month at each location,” the authority says on dswa.com.

Nine drop-off centers below the canal will collect single-stream recycling, cardboard, household batteries, used oil and oil filters. They are Bridgeville, Dover (the authority’s administrative offices), Ellendale, Long Neck, Milford, Omar (near Frankford), Pine Tree Corners (near Townsend), Del. 5 (near Harbeson) and Sandtown (near Felton).

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These drop-off centers and special collections of household hazardous waste, electronics recycling and paper shredding will continue to be free for consumers.

“Drop-off programs across the country are going away,” Parkowski said. “Most people understand that the system is broken, and it’s getting worse every month.”

Over the last several years, he said, more furniture and large items were being left beside the bins, but more often household trash has been found inside them, with food waste and dirt making the recyclables they touched unmarketable.

He offered these reminders, for now and after the consolidation:

• Recycle plastic bags at retailers because the bags gum up sorting machinery.
• Recycle scrap metal with dealers; the authority system is only for household containers.
• Don’t recycle composites. For example, flashlights have plastic and metal components that can’t be separated so they are trash.

For questions about recycling and the consolidation, go to dswa.com or call (800) 404-7080.