Vigo eyes a second recycling center
Dec. 16—Establishing a recycling center in the southern part of Vigo County could take several years.
The Vigo County Solid Waste Management District on Thursday voiced support for a southern recycling center, as Vigo County Commissioner Mike Morris, a member of the waste district board, said a county-owned property could be used for that purpose.
The property, near the northeastern corner of Harlan Drive and Carlisle Street, contains several buildings — including a 5,000 square foot office building and a 15,000 square foot concrete building.
In April 2021, the Vigo County Redevelopment Commission approved a land donation agreement with Custom Blenders, a food waste and bakery waste recycling company that produced animal feed, for 14 acres adjacent to the Vigo County Industrial Park.
The commission paid $7,878 in closing costs and about $24,000 in property taxes under the agreement.
Larry Robbins, county engineer/highway director, said the former Custom Blenders facility, built in 1983, needs improvements and will require approval of repair funds, such as for roofing and electrical work, from the Vigo County Council.
Robbins said a southern recycling center could be set up similar to the existing recycling center, located adjacent to the highway department's northern office off of Haythorne Avenue.
Karrum Nasser, executive director of the Solid Waste Management District, said a second site would require an additional employee "to have someone there all the time. I think first we would start off with just recycling, then later look at e-waste. The e-waste has dropped considerably "adding recycling of electronics this year tallied just under 40 tons, half of last year's recycling, Nasser said.
"I don't think we need shredding" in a southern location, Nasser added. "I think we just start off with single-stream recycling."
Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett, president of the district board, said once the county highway department has its southern highway facility ready, with a timeline for occupancy, the solid waste district can "then see how we fit into that schedule and staff that," Bennett said. "
We think this is important and I think we can fund it," Bennett said of a southern recycling center. "We have the resources to do it, just have to figure out how to pull it all together."
Commissioner Chris Switzer, a district board member, said, "realistically, I think we are a couple years away" from establishing a southern recycling center due to repairs needed to make the former Custom Blenders facility operational for both the highway department and for a recycling center.
After the meeting, Nasser said 2022 was a good year for recycling, with the county ending the year with 450 tons of recyclables. He said launching a new phone application in March for people to use to determine what can be recycled, as well as the start of glass recycling in August has added to collections. The county from August to November collected 46.9 tons of glass for recycling.
"We will be up over 100 tons (in recyclables) from last year and that doesn't include the glass," Nasser said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter @TribStarHoward.
