Portland will drop recycling

Portland will no longer have curbside recycling services after this month. 

Portland Board of Works voted Thursday to stop door-to-door pickup of recycling as costs mount and the future of recycling in the U.S. remains uncertain. 

Board members also heard an update on a drainage project intended to alleviate flooding in the area around Jay County Courthouse. 

Recycling has been a hot topic at the board’s meetings since spring, as city officials tried to find a way to keep the program running while avoiding raising user fees. 

City employees pick up trash in Portland at no cost, and recycling has been collected by Best Way Disposal, for which residents are charged $4.25 a month. The board previously considered combining trash and recycling pickup, but determined the cost would be too high. It settled on a solution in August — a three-year contract with Rumpke — but the loss of a $10,000 grant from the Jay County Solid Waste Management District threw a wrench in that plan. 

The three-year contract would cost $4.50 per household per month the first year, with costs rising to $4.59 and $4.73 per month the second and third years. The subsidy would have been used to cover the extra costs without raising residents’ fees. 

Another concern is that China, which has bought the United States’ recycling in the past, enacted new restrictions on what it will accept earlier this year.

“We also know that there are bales and bales and bales of recycling that are sitting on the east coast right now,” Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman said. “Right now they’re saying that other than cardboard and glass, there’s no market for the rest of the recycling that we’ve been doing.” 

Considering the cost and uncertainty, the board voted Thursday to eliminate the program after this month. Portland has had curbside recycling since 1993. 

“I just can’t see us going in the hole and I can’t see us charging residents any more,” said board member Jerry Leonhard. 

“My thoughts are there’s no way in the world we can continue with curbside recycling,” agreed board member Bill Gibson, who also sits on the solid waste management district board along with Geesaman. “(Portland is) the only community in the county that goes with curbside recycling, and the solid waste district takes care of the recycling for all the rest of the community. Why not here?” 

The solid waste district provides two recycling trailers in Portland. One is located at the shopping center at 218 W. Lincoln St., with assisted recycling from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday. The other, an unassisted trailer open 24/7, is located at Jay County Jail, 224 W. Water St. 

“Just because we’re giving up curbside recycling, you still have the opportunity to recycle,” Geesaman said. “You just have to do it yourself. I’m going to have to take it out there.” 

It won’t cost the city any money to back out of the contract since Rumpke hadn’t begun service in the city yet. The last charge residents will receive for recycling will be on their October water bill, which is mailed in November and due Dec. 10. 

The fee may not disappear entirely. City officials are considering an ordinance to redirect the money to help subsidize landfill costs, which will likely increase with the elimination of the curbside recycling. But no decisions have been made yet and discussions will continue on the subject. 

Board members also received an update on a project meant to help stop flooding during moderate rainfall. 

Ryan Lefeld of Choice One Engineering explained the scope of the project. Drainage lines will be installed in a “Y” shape, beginning on Pleasant Street and Commerce Street from their intersections with Walnut Street.

The lines will continue south and connect on Main Street, with a single line running down Ship Street to an outlet at the Salamonie River.

“This is definitely something that’s going to help out in your mid-range frequency storms,” Lefeld said. “(It’s) definitely going to help out a lot when more normal events that we still see flooding out here.” 

It’s estimated to cost $536,491, not including repaving the roads associated with the project. The city recently submitted a Community Crossings grant application to Indiana Department of Transportation seeking funding for repaving Pleasant, Ship, Commerce and Walnut Streets in the areas that will be affected. 

The drainage project is ready to be bid out, but Geesaman wants to make sure funding is in place before doing so.

In other business, board members: 

•Approved a change order of $17,385.50 for Jutte Excavating for continued work on the wastewater treatment plant. 

•Approved a sewage bill adjustment for Sharon Myers, who lives at 227 E. Votaw St.