The Bradford Township Supervisors will allow an engineering firm
to conduct a feasibility study to reveal whether curb-side
recycling is a viable option in the township.

Taking a suggestion submitted by McKean County Recycling
Coordinator Mary Williams at the last meeting, the supervisors
voted in October to allow Williams to draft a grant application for
a pilot program that would involve the purchase of a new truck and
container to facilitate curb-side recycling.

Williams told the supervisors during their regular meeting
Monday night, however, that a representative from the state
Department of Environmental Protection asked her to hold that grant
application, as similar situations and applications across the
state have been bringing technical issues to the forefront.

Also, township employees who would be expected to implement the
new recycling program have also voiced concerns to Williams, she
said.

That being the case, she recommended allowing Gannett Fleming
Inc. of Pittsburgh to conduct a feasibility study on the subject at
no cost to the township.

The supervisors took her advice and voted unanimously in favor
of allowing Gannett Fleming to do the study.

Before the trio voted in favor of the measure, however, township
resident Rocco Camas told the supervisors he predicts the major
problem with the proposed curb-side recycling program will be labor
costs therein.

“Bradford Township can’t afford to hire people just to do
recycling,” Camas said.

He also brought up the township’s finances at another point,
asking whether the elimination of positions held by certain
township employees in the last five years – a purported savings of
about $60,000 a person at the time it was a current issue, Camas
said – has proved beneficial to the township’s financial
situation.