Butler County Courthouse

DAVE PRELOSKY

Butler County is replacing the company responsible for its hazardous and electronic waste collection program.

County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to enter a contract with Noble Environmental Specialty Recycling with annual automatic renewal options through 2024.

“It’s really important for us to have these approved sites,” Commissioner Leslie Osche said.

The program provides dates and places for county residents to discard items that are not accepted through regular garbage pickups.

Kelly said the program keeps a lot of unsafe materials from reaching landfills or from being dumped around the county. She said it also gets the items out of the homes, where they could be dangerous to residents.

“We’re very happy to have it back,” Kelly said.

In 2021, the county used Environmental Coordination Services & Recycling, based in Forward Township, for this service. But the company closed in late November, and the county has not had a replacement since. ECS&R collected about 35,859 pounds of hazardous waste and 77,245 pounds of electronics throughout the year.

Noble is headquartered in Pittsburgh, and is a parent company to the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill in Belle Vernon. Its e-waste and hazardous collections are conducted through its County Hauling business, which serves the Greater Pittsburgh Area.

The new company brings with it some new price-per-pound rates, most of which increase on average 5 to 10 cents each year.

The prices are comparable to what the county has paid in the past for this type of collection, according to Sheryl Kelly, the county's environmental specialist and recycling and farmland coordinator.

For most items, fees associated with the program are split between the participant and the county. For those designated items, the latter is reimbursed through an Act 190 Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

“It’s so wonderful we can get the grant money from the state to help people pay these costs,” Kelly said.

Some of these items include paints, used oil and antifreeze. Costs to dump these items can range from $9.75 per pound for items containing mercury to 50 cents for appliances containing Freon.

County officials noted that some items — namely electronics — fall out of those covered by the Act 190 Grant. For those items, the participant would cover the entire cost; however, these items cost the least for Noble to collect. Televisions and monitors will cost 55 cents per pound to discard, while all other electronics will cost 35 cents per pound.

Noble’s capability to accept electronics was one of a few reasons it was selected among a handful of other companies, according to Kelly.

Since 2015, the program has taken 237 tons of televisions alone.

Kelly said Noble’s prices were also fairly balanced, and it did not charge a setup fee.

“We’re going to do what we can for the rest of the year until November,” she said. “Things will pick back up in April as long as automatic renewal goes through.”

She said by continuing the program, the county will continue preventing hazardous waste and electronic devices from reaching landfills as it has since 2002. In that time, the program has collected 428 tons of hazardous waste and 577 tons of electronic waste.

Commissioner Kim Geyer said she is thankful for the program, which she knows is popular among residents.

“It’s a really well-used program,” Geyer said.