On October 15,2005 our Recycling Volunteers, quietly celebrated the Fifteenth Anniversary of Roaring Brook Township's drop off Recycling Program. Over the past fifteen years our volunteers have collected over 1,940 tons of material which was shipped to the Lackawanna County Recycling Center for processing.

The 3,388,000 pounds collected (through September 2005) is the equivalent of 129,333 trash bags full of items kept out of area landfills by our residents, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in trash removal fees.

We can be proud of the fact that nearly 2,000 tons of discarded items were recycled into new products such as office paper, newsprint, cardboard, glass containers, clothing items, carpet and many other plastic consumer products. Collectively we were able to extend the life of valuable natural resources by substituting recycled ingredients for new raw materials in the manufacturing process.

We commend all residents who participate in the program and we have very high praise for the hearty individuals who show up month after month, in all types of weather, to volunteer their labor in a worthwhile community project. We are thankful for our volunteers, without them there would be no recycling program.

Our program was among the first in Lackawanna County and we feel, one of the best. Roaring Brook Township began recycling in 1990. At that time, each household was furnished, without charge, one recycling container purchased by the Township with grant monies. This container remains the property of Roaring Brook Township and should remain at the residence if you move. Your recycling container is to be used for recycling only. Additional containers or replacement containers may be obtained from the Township on recycling Saturdays.

Mary Jordan, Roaring Brook's Recycling Coordinator, urges the residents of Roaring Brook Township to recycle materials in an effort to preserve our environment. Recycling in Roaring BrookTownship is done on a voluntary drop-off basis two Saturdays each month at the Township Building on Blue Shutters Road.

The Recycling Program is currently accepting newspapers, magazines, telephone books, cardboard, aluminum and bi-metal cans, and clear glass bottles and jars. Labels do not have to be removed from glass items, but caps should be removed. Newspapers, magazines, and cardboard should be deposited in the appropriately marked container at the site. Paper items should be bound with string or contained in paper bags -- Do not use plastic bags. Why so many rules?

The Rule	The Reason
Three separate containers	One container is for the following mixed items: tin and aluminum cans, aluminum pie tins and foil, clear, green and brown glass bottles and jars and plastic bottles and jars only. Another container is: for newspapers (in paper bags or tied in bundles) phonebooks, magazines and catalogs. The third container is for corrugated carboard.
Drop off only during posted hours	Your material will be deposited in the proper container. Items intended for recycling will not be put in the container along with the plastic bag it was brought to the site in. Plastic bags jam conveyor equipment. Household garbage will not be placed in the recycling container. Our container will not be "flagged" by the recycling center as contaminated. This means that the load would have to be sent to a landfill at the township's expense.
All bottles, jars and cans must be rinsed and clean	Co-mingled items are sorted by hand on a conveyor line at the recycling center. Handling contaminated items is unhealthy for the employees.
Throw away all caps and lids, including tin cans	Caps, lids and can tops get caught in conveyor equipment causing breakdowns.
Step on and crush plastic bottles and jars	Crushed items take up less space in the container. We can fit the load in one container saving the cost hauling a second one to the center.
Do not break glass bottles and jars	Broken glass is a safety hazard for employees during sorting.
Cardboard must be put in our container flat	Our container can hold a lot of flat cardboard. Boxes still assembled take up a lot of room therefore the container is filled rapidly, mostly with air.
No pizza boxes	Pizza boxes are contaminated with food products and cannot be recycled.
We cannot accept the following items:	Mirrors, dishes, cups, light bulbs, crystal, ceramics and plastic items other than jars and bottles, cereal boxes, tissue boxes and any non corrugated paper products.

Office paper and junk mail are not part of our recycling program but may be recycled by dropping these items off at the Lackawanna County Recycling Center. A formal recycling center drop off point is provided at the Lackawanna County Recycling Center located at 3400 Boulevard Ave in Scranton. Coming from Exit 190 off Interstate 81{Old Exit 56}, turn right at light. Go about one mile to Dickson City Corners. Turn right at light onto Boulevard Avenue. Go about one mile. Recycling Center will be on your right. Items can be dropped off between 7:00 AM and 3:15 PM, Monday through Friday and between 8:00 AM and 12:30 PM on Saturday.

Preparation of your recycling materials is very important for an effective recycling program. The types of materials that Roaring Brook Township recycles and the proper way to prepare the materials are explained below:

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RECYCLING ITEMS CAN BE COMMINGLED IN THE SAME CONTAINER.
PLEASE PREPARE ITEMS AS FOLLOWS AND PLACE IN YOUR BLUE RECYCLING BIN:

ALUMINUM BEVERAGE CANS: Rinse cans clean. Cans maybe flattened to conserve space.

BI-METAL CANS: Rinse cans clean. Cans maybe flattened to conserve space. Bi-metal cans include juice cans, soup cans, tuna cans, cat & dog food cans, etc.

GLASS: Clear, brown and green glass JARS & BOTTLES ONLY. Rinse glass clean; remove metal rings and lids. It is not necessary to remove labels.

PLASTIC: #1 AND #2 Plastic bottles only (NO MOTOR OIL BOTTLES OR ANTI-FREEZE BOTTLES). On the bottom of the bottle you will see a triangle made of arrows, with a number in it. This is the content number for the bottle. #1 and #2 are the only bottles we collect, they include milk, soda, shampoo & soap bottles to name a few, but do check the number as not every bottle is the same.

Please place the following items in separate bags or bundles

NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES & TELEPHONE BOOKS: Stack neatly and place in brown paper bags or tie with string. No wax coated items.

CARDBOARD: Corrugated Cardboard Boxes must be flattened but do not need to be cut down in size. Please no packing materials, trash, etc. in this dumpster.

Please note that at this time we cannot accept shredded paper JUNK MAIL & HOME OFFICE PAPER: Includes home office paper, envelopes, file folders, index cards, computer paperfor recycling. However, these items may be taken directly to the Lackawanna County Recycling Center.

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