Borough Receives $100 Paper Recycling Prize

One hundred dollars may not seem like a lot of money anymore, but in today's economy every little bit helps.

Thus it was with appreciation that Hellertown Borough Manager Cathy Kichline accepted a $100 prize check from Abitibi Paper Recycling Green Team member and Lower Saucon resident Lenny Szy, who said the award was earned because the borough increased its paper collection goal by 15 percent.

Abitibi is a Philadelphia-area paper recycler that collects dropped off paper from two dozen Dumpster-like receptacles strategically located throughout the Saucon Valley area, Szy explained.

Szy said he and former Lower Saucon Township Historical Society president Lorraine Torrella helped negotiate the introduction of the local paper recycling initiative in early 2007, and that since that time between 2.7 and 2.8 million tons of paper have been collected from Saucon Valley receptacles.

In that span of time, 915,000 tons of paper have been collected from the Borough of Hellertown's bins alone, Szy said.

In terms of paper recycling, "we're Pennsylvania's largest customer...and we are possibly the largest in the U.S.," Szy told Kichline and Borough Council members at council's March 21 meeting. "We have done good."

Szy said he recently presented $100 awards to , and schools, because the drop-off bins located on the school district campus also met the collection targets needed to receive prize money from Abitibi.

Other receptacles are located at , and the .

Outside Hellertown and Lower Saucon, Abitibi bins can be found at Lehigh University's Mountaintop campus and in Upper Saucon Township, Szy added.

Paper dropped off in the bins should be shredded and in bags, he advised.

"We do not accept any boxes" or cardboard, Szy cautioned.

Phone books are also not accepted, and residents should be certain that other types of household waste are not mixed in with their paper, before dropping it off, he said.

"I'd like to thank everyone from Hellertown who contributes," Szy said, before presenting the award.

Kichline commented that the borough's status as a top paper recycler is also helpful in terms of securing grant money.

"It certainly increases the amount of office paper that's recycled...so the borough receives a higher grant award for that," she said.

The entire paper recycling program continues to benefit the Lower Saucon Township Historical Society, which receives funding based on the amount of paper collected by Abitibi.