Westchester Boasts a Boom in Recycling

As National Recycling Day falls on Sunday, November 15, Westchester can celebrate with a clean conscience. The county has one of the highest recycling rates in the northeast, according to the Department of Environmental Facilities (DEF) and the county’s Recycling “Tsar,” Louis Vetrone.

Residential curbside recycling was up over 30% in September compared to a year ago and up over 10.5% for the full year. After what was described as a “deep recession” in the re-sale market for the past couple of years, revenue from the sale of recyclables was also up by 107% in September compared to September 2019, and is up almost 10% for the year.

“We’re fortunate in Westchester that our residents are diligent in cleaning recyclables and separating them properly,” said Vetrone. “This dedication combined with the state-of-the-art equipment we’ve installed at the County’s Material Recovery Facility allowed the County to continue to sell its recyclables over the past couple of years, while programs around the country faltered. With the added material collected these past few months, we’ve been in a position to take advantage of the markets.”

The added revenue helped the county to fund its new food scrap initiatives in which any municipality in the county can participate. Westchester is also building a new compost education facility in Valhalla that will provide small-scale demonstrations of ow composting works as well as classes on the benefits of composting.

To see the Indy Talks interview with Louis Vetrone, go to: https://thehudsonindependent.com/westchesters-recycling-tsar-talks-trash/

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