Slowly, but surely, Robeson County is moving toward going green—and saving some green (money) as it tries to save the local environment.

Recycling pays in many ways, and the county is moving toward phasing out dumpster sites and replacing them with neat, well-managed, mini-recycling centers.

The newest of these recycling centers opened recently in Rennert, at the former location of the dumpster site near the intersection of Shannon Road and Morgan J Road

With this site, Robeson County Solid Waste has now opened eight of its planned mini-recycling centers, with between eight and 12 to go. These will be introduced over the next three years at former dumpster sites, which are “going by the wayside.”

“It’s out intent to construct between 16 and 20 of these sites,” said Steve Edge, Solid Waste Director for Robeson County. “We are phasing out the old front-loader collection sites and replacing them with these new collection sites, which will offer recycling of some items such as metal, appliances, used motor oil, used tires and automotive batteries at this point.

“Once we get the entire system operational, we’ll expand the recycling program to include plastics, aluminum cans, cardboard, office-type paper and newspaper.

“This is our third year of installing these new sites, with three years to go in the plan. Once all have been phased in and we’ve closed all the existing front-end loader dumpster sites, then we will expand the services we provide for recycling. We are moving forward.

“These sites cost about $55,000 each to construct, which includes purchase of the property, equipment, etc, and due to the capital costs involved, we thought it would be more cost- effective to implement the program over a period of time rather than have a large outlay of cash at one time,” Mr. Edge said.

”We know that these new sites will offer better service to the citizens of the county, in addition to reducing our overall operational costs. The front-end loader trucks cost over $200,000 each and have an average life expectancy of seven years. The cost of a roll-off truck is $133,000 and each has a life expectancy of between 10 and 12 years. In addition, these new sites do not have to be serviced as often as the dumpster sites, so that is another real plus.”

The County is planning ahead and is moving toward recycling, because of state mandates and because some citizens are demanding it. Now, it will be up to the citizens of Robeson County to help aid the program, stop littering and help make Robeson County truly “Clean and Green.” If they buy into this recycling program, it will pay.