How and why recycling and trash collection will change in the Centre Region this summer
Changes to when recycling and refuse is collected in the Centre Region are coming.
Waste Management and the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority will begin collecting materials at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. during the summer months, Eric Norenberg, Centre Region Council of Governments executive director, said during Tuesday’s COG executive committee meeting. It will be part of a pilot program that will run the Tuesday after Memorial Day and end the Friday before Labor Day. An evaluation of the program will take place in September.
CRCOG’s Regional Refuse and Recycling Program provides refuse and recycling curbside collection through contracted haulers for all single residential properties in Benner, College, Ferguson, Harris and Patton townships as their designated agent. CRCOG’s Refuse and Recycling Program does not serve residents of the Borough of State College; those residents have their trash and recycling collected by the borough.
Why the change?
The request was made by Waste Management and CCRRA, in part, due to climate change, Norenberg said. The time change allows both entities to begin summertime curbside collection one hour earlier through the hottest days. The schedule shift is part of the Centre Region’s climate change adaptation, according to the executive committee’s March 22 agenda. Norenberg approved the pilot program, as schedule changes are an administrative decision.
“The average number of days above 90 degrees between Memorial and Labor Days in central Pennsylvania is 21, but in 2020 there were 35 and in 2021 there were 32. So, in the past two years, over one-third of the days in this period recorded high temperatures and a high heat index,” the agenda stated.
Plus, residential refuse and recycling weights are greater through the summer months, according to data provided by COG. Both entities have protocols in place for worker safety in the heat, the agenda states, but heat exhaustion remains a concern on those hotter days. The change would allow them to work during cooler times of the day.
Feedback and comments can be provided before, during or after the pilot program to the COG’s Refuse and Recycling Program by calling 814-234-7198 or emailing recycler@crcog.net.
Concerns from Ferguson Township
Laura Dininni, chair of the Ferguson Township supervisors and COG executive committee member, said township residents would be disproportionately impacted as Ferguson is more rural than some other Centre Region municipalities. She raised concerns about interactions with wildlife.
“There are bears all over west Ferguson, we live peaceably with them, and we listen to what the Game Commission suggests: to not put our trash out the night before so we do it in the morning. Many of us have very long farm lanes, so that involves getting up early in the morning. Many of those folks are up but they’re not looking at trash, they’re doing other things at that time in the morning,” she said.
Dininni argued that if the time is shifted between Memorial Day and Labor Day, it would be before dawn, when bears are most active. And because the routes start with rural residents, it could create another safety issue. Residents will either put their trash out the night before or will haul it down before dawn, she said, both of which could cause bear interactions.
She said not all residents are happy with mandatory participation in COG’s service to begin with. If the Ferguson Township supervisors and interim manager had more time to discuss, they could have approached it in a better way with their residents, she said, adding that they should request feedback from the impacted population and work that into the routes.
Rich Francke, chair of the College Township Council and COG executive committee, said assumptions shouldn’t be made regarding the outcome of the change — positive or negative.
“We’re going to have real data on it to discern before any permanent change happens,” Francke said.
Bud Graham, Harris Township supervisor, questioned why it was even being discussed during the meeting, as it was an administrative and business decision to be made by the COG executive director.
“This is a executive decision and a business decision. It’s for the health and welfare of the employees and employees, as far as I’m concerned, come first. This is not unusual. Businesses start early, businesses start at different times. And I think that’s a businesses decision they should’ve made,” he said.
Norenberg said he meets with the township managers of the Centre Region regularly; Patton, College and Harris township managers all indicated that this was a better solution than making a change to refuse and recycling pickup done randomly and at the last minute, he said. Ferguson’s interim manager was not in that meeting, he said, but was followed up with later. Dininni disagreed, saying the two situations were not equal.
“I’m going to request that … we try to treat each other with respect, which means that acknowledging we have an interim manager. And that the last thing you really want to be doing is giving them less time and attention than the other mafia managers, or manager mafia, as they call themselves,” she said.
Norenberg and Francke acknowledged that the communications and process to the township managers could have been handled differently and better.
Shelly Mato, COG’s refuse and recycling program administrator, will work with the municipalities and others to alert residents about the schedule change. The program will put inserts with their billing and Waste Management will issue call and email blasts to alert customers. This is in addition to regular advertisements, and website and newsletter updates.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 9:54 AM.
