Luzerne County Commissioners announced the creation of a new Recycling Education Grant Program, according to Ed Latinski, Luzerne County Recycling Coordinator.

The goal of the program is to teach residents the right way to recycle so the material collected is free of contamination and readily recycled by end users.

The Commissioners made available $129,899.50 from the county’s Landfill Administrative Fee Fund for the program which could potentially benefit the 46 municipalities now recycling in the county.

Municipalities must have completed a 2003 Annual Recycling Report to be eligible to receive these one-time grants. Grant amounts will be equal to fifty cents per person for a qualifying municipality.

Eighty-nine percent of the population in Luzerne County can take advantage of local recycling programs. Fifty-nine percent of the municipal waste produced in the county is now recycled.

The Luzerne County Solid Waste Management Department will administer the program.

This is believed to be the first time any county has launched a recycling education grant program of this type and scale anywhere in the state.

9/3/2004