Marketplace Lancaster County
One of the most successful and comprehensive county recycling
programs in Pennsylvania is the recycling program of Lancaster
County. A big reason for Lancaster county's success is Tim Breneisen,
Lancaster County's Recycling Coordinator. Tim's inexhaustible
energy and attention to detail are two of the traits that have
allowed the program to be as successful as it has become.
Lancaster County's Solid Waste Management Authority ("LCSWMA")
oversees nearly all aspects of the county's collection, transfer,
recycling and disposal of municipal waste in Lancaster County.
Tim Breneisen has been with the Lancaster Solid Waste Authority
since March of 1989. While Tim has a degree in Forest Science
from Penn State, he is equally at home as the messenger of recycling
in Lancaster County. Tim's first position at Lancaster County's
Solid Waste Management Authority was working with non-residential
generators to establish recycling programs among members of the
business, industrial and institutional communities. Within three
years, Tim had assumed the reins of County Recycling Coordinator
where he presides today.
While most of Lancaster County's recyclables are collected by
private haulers, Tim works closely with the 38 curbside municipal
recycling programs within Lancaster County, supplying technical
support and market research and development for these programs.
These 38 programs serve 76 % of the county's residents. The county's
recycling rate for 2001 was 46%, that translates into 188,500
tons of material being recycled instead of being disposed of in
a landfill or an incinerator. Tim also does the market development
for the recyclables that LCSWMA handles and is one of the most
visible promoters and supporters of recycling in the commonwealth.
Tim has helped to implement the numerous supplementary programs
that provide the comprehensive approach to the handling, recycling
and disposal of municipal waste streams in the county. LCSWMA
has a permanent Household Hazardous Waste Facility that provides
for the free drop-off of computers, batteries, paint, fluorescent
light bulbs and propane tanks by county residents.
LCSWMA also sponsors or helps to sponsor 36 drop-off centers for
yard waste, 32 drop-off points for waste oil, 5 drop-off centers
for old ammunition, and CFC recovery from appliances such as refrigerators
and air conditioners disposed of at the LCSWMA transfer station.
All of these activities have garnered many awards for Tim and
the people at the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority
including awards from the Solid Waste Association of North America
("SWANA") in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1998. LCSWMA also
won Pennsylvania Waste Watcher Awards in 1999 and 2000. And just
this year LCSWMA has won the Community Leadership Recycling Award
presented by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation. Over
the life of its program, LCSWMA has recycled over one half million
batteries. That's enough batteries to energize any program. Join
me in congratulating Tim and the dedicated folks at the LCSWMA
for their caring and ahrd work.
This is the fourth in a series of articles featuring the prominent
people in the recycling industry in Pennsylvania. If you have
any questions or comments on this story or anything else having
to do with recycling in Pennsylvania please call me at 717-787-7382.