Kari Miller, a founding member of Polk County Recycling & Beautification (PCRB) and its current president, recently presented a program to the Rotary Club of Livingston about the Polk County Recycling Center and the ongoing efforts of PCRB. Assistant to the county judge, Miller also serves as the county liaison for PCRB and has been instrumental in getting the recycling center operational.
“PCRB is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that was formed by community members to run the Polk County Recycling Center and the Onalaska Loop Recycling Drop-Off. These facilities were built by Polk County, utilizing surplus waste management revenues, with the goal of responsibly managing waste that can be diverted from the landfill. In 2021, Polk County partnered with PCRB to build Polk County’s recycling programs and to operate these recycling facilities. PCRB hired Brian McNinch part-time to manage the operations and coordinate volunteers. The recycling center opened in November 2021, and the Onalaska drop-off opened in October 2022.
“Everyone here has the ability to help in some way. That can be by bringing clean and dry recycling materials that we can accept, participating in litter clean-up efforts, volunteering time or monetary contributions to keep the facilities running, or even just talking to people about the recycling opportunities in our community. Our recycling center accepts corrugated cardboard, single-use plastic bottles and jugs without caps, and aluminum cans and steel cans. Other items we currently take include old athletic shoes, and batteries, and I’ll expand on all of that in just a bit.
“At the recycling center, we have equipment that the county purchased with grants. Initially, we purchased a baler and a forklift with a grant from DETCOG, funded by TCEQ. This baler is ideal for baling cardboard, creating bales roughly 1,100 pounds each. Once we have approximately 42,000 pounds of baled material, we are able to load it onto a truck bound for a paper mill, which PCRB has received anywhere from $1,100 to $2,500 for, depending on the cardboard prices at the time of sale.
“In our second year of operations, Polk County made application to Keep Texas Recycling for additional equipment for processing recyclable plastic. This grant was funded by Coca-Cola Southwest Beverage Company. While this baler is also ideal for baling cardboard, it works for plastic but is unable to produce plastic bales that weigh as much as cardboard bales. A bale of plastic, which is roughly the same size as a bale of cardboard, holds about 500-650 pounds, and so we are able to ship out a load of plastic when we have accumulated about 19,000 pounds. This isn’t a heavy enough load to be shipped direct to a mill, so plastics go on to another facility for further processing first.
“In addition to a second baler dedicated to plastic, we were able to purchase a portable loading dock with our grant funds from Keep Texas Recycling. Plastic has to be loaded into enclosed trailers, making the loading dock necessary.
“Each type of material that we accept that cannot be recycled locally, like the aluminum and steel cans are, has to be shipped out by material. Meaning, we need to be able to store at least a full truckload of each type of material that has to be shipped. We’ve recently sold a load of cardboard and a load of plastic, so it is much less crowded inside than it was before, and we are getting ready to ship out a second load of plastic, hopefully next week. The first load of plastic that we sold netted PCRB a little over $1,900.
“PCRB has made every effort to maximize recycling opportunities in Polk County, and we have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t work, mostly by trial and error. For a time, we had a buyer that could accept all single-use plastics, and better yet, they said they could accept it in small quantities, meaning they would send a truck when we had 8-12 bales accumulated. And, better yet, everything could be mixed together. So, we started collecting all single-use plastic, numbers 1 - 7 except Styrofoam. We separated the plastic film, because we got so much of it, and it was ideal for baling separately. We also kept our #1 and #2 plastics separate to continue selling that to Keep Texas Recycling to honor our grant agreement. Eventually, we met with someone higher up in the company, and they informed us that they would not send transportation until we had a full truckload. That left us scrambling to figure out how to get rid of this material, since we don’t have enough space for it. Fortunately, #3 - #7 plastic is not nearly as common, so we didn’t yet have a lot of it. What we did have was taken to another collection facility in Kingwood.
“For a time, we were also accepting bottle caps, which a company in Indiana will turn into benches for a fee. We collected enough to make a trip, and we are working on the logistics of that now. Once we have them, we will open these up to sponsors that want to purchase a bench and place it within the community. This is another program that we are hoping to open back up once we get back from dropping off the first load of caps, but we will need to really emphasize education with this. To be accepted for recycling, the bottle caps must be clean and dry.
“On what we do accept, some of the most common examples are plastic bottles, jugs and jars. Caps and lids should always be removed. For one, we cannot process containers with them on and leaving them off helps the items fully dry out before we get them. Food and drink residue should be completely removed. I can tell you from experience, if it looks or smells like trash, it is going to be trashed, and our staff should reject these items for various reasons. First, we are hand-sorting these materials, and leftover food and drink waste that has been sitting in the recycling bin gets gross pretty quickly. Milk and creamer are especially bad if not fully rinsed out. Second, we’re going to be stuck with these materials for a while until we have enough to sell, and we do not want to invite bad smells, mold, or vermin into the facility. Third, the recyclability of these materials depends on the state that they are in when they get to the next processing facility. It’s important to remember that items that are treated like trash will end up in a landfill rather than risking contamination of other recyclable materials.
“When you come out to the recycling center, you will see cages outside for accepting cardboard and aluminum cans. Please ensure if you put items directly into these cages, it’s only cardboard or aluminum cans. Cardboard should be broken down, not just crushed, to help us efficiently collect as much cardboard in each cage as possible. We do pride ourselves on making very compact, very stable bales, which makes storage and transportation as efficient and as safe as possible. An unstable stack of bales could lead to serious injury or even death.
“As I mentioned earlier, we do also accept athletic shoes. Got Sneakers is a company that sends us FedEx bags to load up with sneakers, which they then recycle and send us back a little bit of money for them. It’s not a lot, but it doesn’t cost us anything and it beats throwing them in the trash when they’re too far gone for donations. Shoes we get that are still in relatively good condition do get donated to someone in need, so it’s a win-win for everyone.
“The recycling center also accepts non-rechargeable batteries, though there is a charge for these, at $2.50 per pound, which is about what it costs us to recycle them. We can’t accept lithium batteries or button batteries, and it’s important to make sure they are not corroded before dropping them off. Corroded batteries are dangerous to handle.
“I am so pleased to be able to share that we are going to be hosting an electronics collection event for Texas Recycles Day on Nov. 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Polk County Recycling Center. We will accept all items with a plug, cord or battery compartment (batteries removed). To help us prepare and coordinate a successful event, we are asking everyone that wants to participate to pre-register for the event on our website, PCRBTexas.org/electronics. This is a great opportunity to get rid of old electronics and other e-waste that are wasting away in drawers and closets. To recover our costs, there will be a charge for all TVs, monitors and printers, but everything else will be accepted at no charge.
“Our drop-off facility in Onalaska is located next to the Onalaska Loop Citizen Collection Station. It is open every first and third Friday from October through May, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Due to various limitations, this site does not accept cardboard or batteries, and it also does have to close when there are severe weather conditions.
“We are always eager for new folks that want to volunteer. New volunteers should be able to commit to at least one day per month to stay up to date with training. In addition to recycling, Polk County Recycling & Beautification also gets involved with clean-up events. We clean up a stretch of Hwy. 146 that we adopted, and we are working on coordinating future clean-up events in other parts of the community. We welcome anyone that would like to get involved in that way.
“PCRB has two annual events that we put on. We have folks actively working now on our third annual art contest, where art is produced out of materials that would otherwise be thrown away or recycled. We welcome individuals and groups of all ages to participate, and we have cash prizes for the winners. Those submissions are due on or before Oct. 29 at the recycling center. There are a few rules regarding the size and stability of the art, so that it can be safely transported to Tempe Creek Vineyard & Farms where it will be displayed on Nov. 3. We had a great turnout at that event last year, and hope to do so again this year, so save the date – Nov. 3 from noon to 3 p.m.
“Our big annual event is our Annual Earth Day Fundraiser. We have live music, auctions, raffles, good food, and lots of goodies to buy. It’s been a fantastic event that we really look forward to. We’d love to have you out for that on April 13, also at Tempe Creek. And, we welcome anyone looking to sponsor these events or donate to our auction or raffle. We rely on the money we raise at these events to keep our operations going.
“I encourage everyone to visit our website and our Facebook page to stay up to date on all the great recycling opportunities we are offering,” Miller said.
