Pasco County Adds 25 New Sites for Recycling Paper Products

A Pasco County School District recycling program that’s converted tons of paper and cardboard into building insulation has expanded. Pasco County has added drop-off bins at fire stations, parks and libraries.

The county’s addition of 25 sites to the program means there are more than 100 locations for residents to bring paper and cardboard products that can be recycled.

The Pasco County school district has been using U.S. GreenFiber, LLC, to collect paper products for nearly three years, said Karen Bryant, the school system’s recycling coordinator.

From July 2010 through June, the school system recycled 2,211 tons of paper products through its program.

Three schools in New Port Richey were among the county’s top five in contributing to the school system’s recycling efforts.

Gulf High School was the school system’s top producer in the past 12 months with 64.3 tons of paper material, followed by Richey Elementary School with 63.7 tons in second place.

Deer Park Elementary School was the fourth-largest producer of paper material at 53 tons.

The other two schools making up the top five were Sand Pine Elementary at 54 tons and Veterans Elementary School at 47.2 tons. Both are in Wesley Chapel.

Schools that produce large amounts of recyclable material usually involve parents and local businesses in the effort, Bryant said.

U.S. GreenFiber provides containers that can accommodate eight cubic yards of paper and cardboard at each of Pasco’s 80 schools. In all, the school system has 90 of the distinctive, green bins.

“Some schools where the volume of recycling is larger have several containers,” Bryant said.

GreenFiber collects the filled bins, separates unusable material and converts the paper and cardboard into insulation at a plant in Ybor City.

The loose insulation is then packaged and sold at home improvement stores such as Home Depot or Lowes in the Tampa Bay area.

Also, schools receive money from the material that’s dropped off at each school, Bryant said.

The county has added 25 locations where GreenFiber, will have bins.  Most of county sites are up and running and all should be by the middle of next week, said Jennifer Seney, Pasco County’s recycling coordinator.

The county selected GreenFiber partly because it is a local company that hires people in the Tampa Bay area, Seney said, and also because the firm handles the entire recycling process.

“They’re complete, from A to Z, and they close the loop locally. I’m just thoroughly enthusiastic,” she said.

Pasco County collects more than 300,000 tons of garbage a year and about 20 percent of it comes from paper products and cardboard that could be recycled.

People can drop off newspaper, office paper, magazines, phone books, cardboard and any paper fiber that’s not contaminated by human waste.

Diverting paper and cardboard to a recycling program can significantly reduce a household’s amount of garbage.

“From 40 percent to 50 percent of home trash is paper products,” Seney said.

Though the recycling effort won’t raise large amounts of cash, money raised at libraries will go back into the library system budget, she said.

It will be the same with money from parks sites going back to parks and recreation and revenue from fire stations going to the fire department. None will go to the county’s general fund.

“We did it for two reasons,” Seney said. “One, we want to recycle. And it is going to generate revenue for community services that have been hit hard by the economy.”

Drop off locations near New Port Richey include:

Locations in New Port Richey include:

Regency Park Regional Library, 9701 Little Road

Mitchell Park, 4825 Little Road

Sunset Building, 5418 Sunset Road

Pasco County Facilities Management, 7220 Osteen Road

Land O’ Lakes Regional Library, 2818 Collier Parkway

Land O’ Lakes Recreation Center, 3032 Collier Parkway

Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O Lakes Blvd.