Allegheny Township officials to host town hall meeting on recycling

Allegheny Township never had a recycling program, but that could change depending on the outcome of a town hall meeting set for April 13.

Supervisor Mike Korns said the board approved the formation of a recycling committee in August 2021. Committee members are Tonia Clark, Denise Conforti, Maryanne Griffin, Patrick Leyland, Aaron McCartney, Nancy Welsh and Kathy Starr.

“We tasked them with providing recommendations regarding recycling in the township,” Korns said. “The committee has made several updates to the board but has not made any formal recommendations as of yet.”

“The goal of the event is to gather opinions from our residents, answer their questions about recycling and ultimately put together a proposal to the Allegheny Township Board of Supervisors for the formation of some sort of recycling program in the township — or to recommend not to go forward,” Township Manager Greg Primm said.

Starr, a former township supervisor, spoke to the board at its meeting last month.

She said recycling has been a topic of discussion among the supervisors for years.

“This topic of recycling has surfaced many times in the past 20 years. The first time it came up, I was 150% against it because it involved having a single hauler in the township and, at that time, we had six or seven haulers,” Starr said. “But we have many entrepreneurs in our township, and I don’t want to see any of them put out of business.”

Starr noted the township population hasn’t grown to the 10,000 mark, staying steady at around 8,200 residents.

Pennsylvania mandates recycling in municipalities with populations exceeding 10,000 residents and those with population densities greater than 300 people per square mile, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

“There’s no chance of mandating this,” Starr said. “But people are interested in recycling, and this is where the need for a town hall meeting comes in.”

Doug Vogel, vice president of Vogel Disposal Service of Adams Township, Butler County, is scheduled to speak.

Vogel offers residential and commercial curbside garbage and recycling collection in many areas of Butler, Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties.

Other speakers scheduled are Westmoreland Cleanways certified recycling experts Mike Skapura and Natalie Reese.

Primm said the meeting is expected to last less than two hours. It will be structured with an agenda and short introductions followed by a report on work accomplished by the recycling committee and a question-and-answer session.

Primm said residents will be required to submit written questions during the meeting.

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review

Former Allegheny Township Supervisor Kathy Starr is organizing a town hall meeting about recycling at 6:30 p.m. April 13 in the Allegheny Township Municipal Building.

The recycling committee will not make any formal decisions on recycling at the meeting, Leyland said, but will sometime after that.

Currently, the township has no contract for garbage pickup.

“Residents are free, currently, to choose any refuse vendor they want,” Primm said. “The township ordinance just requires presently that residents and businesses have garbage pickup.”

Trash haulers utilized by township residents include Waste Management, Shank Waste Service (owned by Vogel) and Adamik Trucking.

Allegheny Township resident Bob Goldstrom expressed his concerns about introducing a recycling program, particularly for senior citizens.

Goldstrom, who owns a business in Lower Burrell, said he has witnessed some seniors struggling to maneuver the more than 90-gallon containers curbside.

“I have an 83-year-old mother this year — to ask her to roll a container of that size to the bottom of her driveway would be a definite hardship. Some older people down there (Lower Burrell) need help rolling them. It’s not like carrying a white garbage bag out of your kitchen to the curb.”

Goldstrom referenced the nearby Leechburg Recycling Center as a resource for residents seeking to recycle.

“If those people want to do recycling, they can take it there. It’s a great program. Leechburg has volunteers to do all their recycling,” said Goldstrom, who plans to attend the town hall.

Vogel declined to provide specifics Monday on recycling details.

“I’m not going to comment until after the meeting,” he said.

Vogel said his company uses blue containers with about a 95-gallon capacity.

“The reason is because things have shifted since covid, and people are getting more things mailed to them, which increases the amount of cardboard,” Vogel said.

If recycling is approved in Allegheny Township, residents would incur an additional fee for those services, Vogel said.

At last month’s meeting, Allegheny Township resident Dave Gatty expressed his disapproval for a recycling program.

“We have a lot of retired people in this township. The increase in cost and some of them (retirees) are going back to work for food, fuel for car, their house and electricity,” Gatty said. “We’ve had two major banks go belly up, and you’re gonna put another cost on people here? No recycling for me.”

Craig Campbell previously served on a recycling committee in Harrison.

“Recycling is not wanted in most communities,” said Campbell, who used recycled paper as an example for supervisors.

“You throw the stuff away; it’s garbage. Recycling does not make sense,” he said. “Bury it all.”

Campbell said aluminum cans and some plastics are the only trash items he recommends for recycling.

Supervisor Ren Steele said Monday he would like recycling to be voluntary.

“I will not be in favor of mandating it or making it a requirement. If people want to do it, I’m fine with it. If people don’t want to do it, I’m fine with that as well,” Steele said.

Supervisor James Morabito agrees that the recycling center in Leechburg, which is open five days a week, is a great alternative.

“I’m not against recycling at all — if a resident is inclined to do so,” Morabito said. “If this (recycling) would pass, it would mean residents would lose their rights to choose which garbage hauler they would like to use. They would be stuck with one provider and be required to pay an extra recycling bill every three months.

“Who is going to protect these residents from their garbage and recycling bills from continuing to rise if they only have one provider and they’re not allowed to choose any others? I will never vote in favor of (it) on this issue.”

Korns said he intends to keep an open mind on the issue until he has “all of the facts.”

“I’m looking forward to this town hall meeting where residents can hear from the recycling committee, as well as share their thoughts on the issue. I expect, at some point after that, the board of supervisors will consider their recommendations and vote on them,” he said.