Due to the Covid19 Virus, all recycling activity and pickups provided by the Paulding County WMEA Program have been suspended until further notice. The exception to this directive is the Paulding County Fairground’s and Cecil Fire Station pickups that occur the first Saturday of the month from 9-11am.

We had to suspend the Program because it was determined that we cannot maintain the sanitizing and social distancing procedures required to keep those that process the recycling, safe. This includes our Boy Scout Troop #315 and Leaders of Tomorrow 4-H Club and many others.

If you are unable to store your material until our services re-open, take it to Erie Recycling in Antwerp or Kohart Salvage in Broughton, we must regrettably suggest placing it in your regular trash. As passionate recyclers, I know the thought of doing that is almost unthinkable, but at this time, we are left with few options.

Moving forward, we will be implementing safety protocols that will keep those assisting with the program as safe as possible. What we are trying to eliminate is referred to as “touches” of the materials being recycled. With our trash, we contain it in a garbage bag that is then touched either once or not at all. Recycling is unique in that it must be sorted, which requires many touches. We are hoping this new protocol can be implemented immediately thereby ensuring everyone’s safety. If it comes to us appropriately divided and sorted then the risk remains very low for undesirable transmission of something harmful. The list will be updated as time goes by, but this is what we have so far.

1. All cardboard must be flat. Boxes that are not flattened will not be accepted. The exception will be those boxes that are made of the extra thick cardboard and basically cannot be collapsed with a utility knife and those containing other recyclables, such as newspaper
2. Steel cans and aluminum cans must be rinsed out and placed in either a paper sack, box or plastic sack. These are not recycled together so MUST be separated.
3. Newspaper should be bundled and placed in a box, paper or plastic sack
4. Shred needs to be in a garbage bag and NOT mixed with other paper
5. Regular paper needs to be confined in some sort of container, such as a box or garbage bag
6. Shiny paper, such as magazines, catalogs, periodicals, etc., need to be confined just like regular paper. These tend to get heavy quickly, so please place these in a box if you have quite a few
7. Plastics 1 & 2 (check the triangle on the bottom of the container) need to be separated.
8. The clear/opaque milk jugs need to be separated from the other No. 2 plastics
9. ABSOLUTELY NO DROPPED OFF/DUMPED RECYCLING WILL BE COLLECTED. WE NEED YOU TO COME IN PERSON TO TRANSFER YOUR MATERIAL TO OUR HANDLERS THAT WILL THEN PLACE IT IN THE APPROPRIATE CONTAINERS IN OUR TRAILERS

 With these new protocols in place, we believe our Paulding County Recycling Program (WMEA) can ramp back up and get back to providing recycling opportunities for our residents in the SAFEST MANNER POSSIBLE.

Please contact Shannon Ruschel at the WMEA office with questions 419-399-3630 or shannon@pauldingcountywmea.com