Forks Fights for Recycling Grant

It's money Forks Township could use to fill the coffers.

For some time, Forks officials had hoped of getting a $280,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

But the township's recycling efforts weren't up to snuff and the grant sat in bureaucratic red tape.

Now, some scissors might cut through that tape.

Cindy Oatis, Forks Township's recycling coordinator, recently informed officials that if it made some changes to the language of its application, the funding could come through.

"Every municipality who had applied for the grant had to make updates to its recycling ordinance," Oatis said.

Oatis said that changes in the DEP management structure is now allowing Forks "some significant special consideration."

And that helped place Forks' application at "the top of the heap," Oatis said.

"We are almost to the finish line," she said.

The updated recycling ordinance needs to be turned into the DEP by the end of October, Oatis said. She said that agreeing to some DEP conditions would help bring Forks into compliance.

"You could have the money by the end of the year," Oatis said.

Oatis said one "huge, missing gap" was that Forks did not hold a township-wide spring waste collection this year.

She said the DEP wants assurances that the cleanup will take place each year. Also, recyclables cannot be burned.

Oatis said the cost of a spring cleanup could be between $6,000 and $15,000. But the benefit could bring the township a $280,000 recycling grant.

"We need to do this to get grant monies," Finance Director Jim Farley said.