Yorktown Recycles: At The Office With Pat Lofaro

Yorktown has long been a pioneer of recycling and all things "green." At the same time that Patrick Lofaro became the head of the Yorktown Environmental Conservation Department, in 1988—back when Earth Day was new—the town started a curbside pick-up program for newspaper recycling. 

People could recycle aluminum, bottles and glass and paper, but it was all done in different containers that was "a chore for homeowners," Lofaro said.

Then, in a test program, 500 homes were asked to separate their recyclable into two—glass, plastics and aluminum in one container and papers in another. 

Yorktown High School students, who were part of an internship for Cornell Cooperative Extension, surveyed about 500 residences who lived across the street from the high school, and people asked, why did the recycling program stop, Lofaro said. 

So the survey was given to Westchester County officials who decided to implement a "commingled" program which would combine all the glass, plastics and aluminum into one container and papers in a different one. 

"How could we make it easier and make people want to do it?" Lofaro said was the thinking behind the implementation. 

Since then recycling technology has been improved and new programs have been implemented. Recycling, some might say is not only good for the environment, but it's also the law. The Source Separation Law requires that everyone must source separate solid waste and recyclables. 

Lofaro said Westchester County has approximately 36 municipalities who participate in the program. Each town or village collects the garbage and recycling and sends it to the Resource Recovery Facility at Charles Point in Peekskill where municipal solid waste or “garbage” is processed.

To provide for the long-term disposal of solid waste, 36 of the county's 43 municipalities, which include Yorktown, have an Intermunicipal Agreement with Westchester County Refuse Disposal District. Under the agreements, the municipalities collect solid waste and deliver it either directly to the Charles Point facility or the transfer stations.

Yorktown delivers its waste to the Peekskill facility, which then truck bring to the recycling facility in Yonkers, called The Daniel P. Thomas Material Recovery Facility (MRF). It serves as the cornerstone for recycling efforts for the municipalities in the Refuse Disposal District No. 1. The facility processed 76,587 tons of recyclables in 2009. Revenue from the sale of recyclables was $3.8 million.

Years ago, Lofaro said, the town would drive to Tarrytown but now they have a shorter trip to the neighboring town, where trucks that are already dumping garbage take on another load and go back to Yonkers. That saves time and essentially money. 

Contrary to belief that recycling is not cost efficient, Lofaro said, the way the system works in Westchester County, it is efficient and revenue in the millions of dollars is generated.

"Municipalities pay a $25 per ton tipping fee to dispose of their waste as garbage," said Sean O'Rourke, environment project manager with the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities. "Municipalities do not pay a tipping fee to ‘tip’ recyclables. Further, whenever recycled content is used as a feedstock in the manufacturing of a product, less energy is used which impacts positively on the environment."

And revenue is generated from the sales of recyclables, O'Rourke said, calling Yorktown's recycling program "superb."

In 2010, the town collected 1,928 tons of compiled paper, 1,171 tons of compiled containers, 10,530 tons of yard waste, 8 tons of tires, 90 tons of electronic waste, 2 tons of motor oil, 441 tons of deposit containers, 99 tons of metals, 270 tons of miscellaneous items, all for a total of 14,541 tons of waste recycled. 

Lofaro said those are "pretty good" numbers and that the town produces more recycling than garbage. Compared to all of Westchester, when you take out the large cities, like White Plains, Yonkers and New Rochelle, Yorktown is number 6 in paper recycling. 

"I think we've got it down to a science," he said of the recycling program.

On June 1, 2011 plastic containers coded 3 through 7 will be added to the county’s list of mandated recyclables under the the Westchester County Source Separation Law. People would be required to separate plastics coded 1 through 7, in commingled recycling bins. For more information, click here. Lorafo said the town would make the information available to residents. 

"For the various components in Yorktown, I think we've been on the forefront of recycling and we've shared a lot of ideas with other people and even we've learned some from other towns," he said. 

Lofaro said approximately 90 percent of Yorktown residents recycle. Some of Yorktown's recycling programs include recycling of motor oil, textiles, organic waste, tires, computers, and metals. The town also recycles bulk trash and free ion appliances before anyone had to recycle them, which is now the law, Lofaro said.

"We started a lot of those programs before there were programs," Lofaro said. "If we could find somebody to take them, we did."

All town boards throughout the years, he said, have been helping him in giving him recourses to implement different recycling programs. 

Yorktown used to be the leader in bulk metal and collected between 1,000 and 2,000, but lately they have been collecting less (99 tons in 2010), because of scavengers who getting the metals, which Lofaro said are worth a lot of money, and then selling them.

"It's come a long way," Lofaro said of the town's recycling program. "People should do their part, it's a simple separation going to the garbage bin and throw your things in, at bulk trash time make sure you throw your recycables separate so that the guys don't have to pull a tire from the botton of the pile or the metal from the bottom of the pile. It will make the day go faster and save on overtime."

In order to save more money, the department has cut down on brochures, which are now posted on their website. They also mail card that people can put on their fridges with dates about when garbage, bulk trash and recyclables are picked up. 

Kitchen trash is picked up twice per week, recyclables are picked up once a week, bulk trash- four times per season leaf bags—six times per autumn season and with bulk trash collection during spring and summer. 

If you're unsure of what you can recycle, the Yorktown Environmental Conservation Department has set up a station at their office so that anyone interested could see what can and cannot be recycled. Martin Scatola, office clerk at the department, said residents could bring in rechargeable batteries and used cell phone. They would get donated through a program in partnership with Verizon to battered women in need of a phone, which would give them access to call 911 in an emergency.

For a list of what you can and can't recycle, go to the department's website. For a schedule of when curbside recycling, bulk trash and holiday kitchen trash pick up schedule, click here. For more information, call (914) 245-4438.