Recycling pays

Grayson cashes in -- more than $40,000 worth

By Amy Boucher

 

      INDEPENDENCE – Recycling is paying off for Grayson County and the dividends are on the rise, according to a report from the Public Works Department aired by County Administrator Jonathan Sweet on Thursday night.

Income from sales of recyclables rose from $32,000 in 2012 to $40,700 in 2013, and the increased poundage meant that Grayson avoided paying $17,600 in tipping fees at the landfill, up 22 percent over the $8,700 saved in 2012.

Recycling of steel more than doubled in 2013, from 7,055 pounds to 17,199 pounds.

By far the biggest sector of Grayson’s recyclables market is cardboard, both in pounds and in income. Graysonites recycled nearly 400,000 pounds of cardboard last year, which sold for almost $30,000.

This was followed, weight-wise, by paper and magazines, at 212,000 pounds, bringing in only $3,707.

The biggest overall increase was in recycled plastics, at 74,400 pounds, up 414 percent from 2012. Plastic brought in $4,500.

Sweet said Grayson’s ability to warehouse recyclables means that the county can wait for a good price, and he praised the Public Works Department for handling the massive increase in recycling.

Wilson District Supervisor Glen “Eddie” Rosenbaum asked Sweet how much the county is getting per pound for steel and aluminum.

Sweet said the price varies and he did not have the particular figures at hand.

“I’ve got some connections that might help the county,” Rosenbaum said.

“We’ll be happy to look at opportunities,” Sweet said.

“You’re talking beaucoups of space saved at the landfill,” said Supervisors’ Chairman John Brewer.

In other action, the board:

* reappointed Larry Osborne and Joe Killon to the Industrial Development Authority.

* appointed Tony Isom and Kimberly Coleman to the Community Policy Managemtn Team.

* postponed an appointment to the Workforce Investment Board because Sweet has not yet found a suitable candidate.

* declared a 1994 GMC Jimmy surplus, so that it can be sold.

* learned that the county’s workman’s compensation insurance rate rose 32 percent, in part because a deputy was shot while on duty last year.

* learned that Fries is featured in the Charlotte edition of The Angler, a free fishing periodical.

* heard from Edgar DeHart, who asked that Grayson repeal a 2004 resolution that made the county a “fence out” locality. This means that property owners are required to fence animals out of their land, which means they have to share the cost of boundary fences with neighbors. DeHart said he only learned of the policy in 2013. “I bet there’s not a person in this room that can tell me what their responsibilities are as to fencing,” he said.

“Our property rights have been compromised with this policy.” DeHart asked that Grayson have a policy neither of “fence in” or “fence out.” State law allows localities to choose.

* authorized the chairman and vice chairman to sign documents for economic development projects.

* agreed to interest-only payments, deferring principal payments, from Quinton Fitness in association with a loan through the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority.