Local business to recycle food, packaging for organic waste

[S.Annadana]

Local business to recycle food, packaging for organic waste
By RICHARD PAYERCHIN, Sandusky Bureau Chief
12/28/2007
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HURON TOWNSHIP -- A local business will start recycling food products and packaging by composting the materials to become organic waste.


Erie County commissioners Tom Ferrell, Nancy McKeen and Bill Monaghan approved allowing Barnes Nursery and Garden Center Inc. to accept waste products from companies instead of having the items brought to the Erie County Landfill.

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Barnes Nursery will mix the food and biodegradable packaging with composted materials to decompose and become organic soil at its soil recycling center on Camp Road, said Sharon Barnes, who also runs the company's soil compost and recycling operations. The company has grant money and approval from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency for the pilot project, she said.

The products from companies to be recycled would include fruit and vegetable trimmings, outdated bakery goods and dough, seafood, plate scraps and leftovers, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, floral waste, egg shells and paper cartons, soiled napkins, tissues, paper towels and wrappers, waxed corrugated cardboard, milk cartons, paper cups, plates and trays, meats and liquids including beer, wine, liquor, milk, juice and sodas.

''We're not looking for huge, huge volumes,'' Barnes said. ''We want to do this in baby steps and start to educate people that there's a higher end use of the material.''

Barnes Nursery will take up to 2,000 tons a year of collected food and pay the county $5 a ton for the material, to make up for the lost of tipping fees at the landfill.

The compost center will work with businesses to separate, collect and transport the food waste; there are no immediate plans to allow individual residents to drop off spoiled food items for recycling, Barnes said.

Jill Huston, who lives nearby on Camp Road, and George and Betty Mingus, who live on nearby Boos Road, said they were concerned about added truck traffic, dust, odors and pests such as bugs or rats. The surrounding residents do not oppose recycling, Huston said, but questioned the location.

''I can keep nothing clean,'' because of dust kicked up at the site, Huston said. ''I'm concerned about it going next door to me.''

Barnes conceded the Camp Road recycling facility's unpaved driveway needs attention, and she invited the commissioners and neighbors to view the site. The county commissioners also will consider complaints when they hold regular meetings in their capacity as directors of the county's solid waste management district, Ferrell said.

The recycling center also had the endorsement of the Huron City Council, which sent a letter to the county commissioners noting Barnes Nursery ''has consistently represented progressive efforts to harness the latest in environmental technology.''



©The Morning Journal 2007