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Recycling director leaving for new job

Frederick is only executive director IRC has ever had

The three-municipality council of governments that operates recycling programs in central Blair County is losing the only executive director it’s ever had.

John Frederick, 62, submitted his resignation recently to the board of the Intermunicipal Relations Committee, after accepting a job at an organization “not in the private sector” — but one which he’s not permitted to identify yet — that had sought out his services.

He’s leaving “with very mixed emotions,” he stated in the resignation letter, which was accepted at an IRC meeting Tuesday by representatives of the IRC members — Altoona, Logan Township and Hollidaysburg.

“It was a somber ‘aye,'” on that acceptance vote, said board Chairman Erik Cagle.

The board passed a resolution praising Frederick for “exceptional leadership,” working “tirelessly to advocate for and promote a fair and sensible system” for collection of rubbish and recyclables and for “passion, insight, knowledge, sense of humor, kindness, energy and graciousness (that) have enriched those fortunate enough to know and work with and for him.”

The board’s strategy for replacing Frederick is “to be determined,” said solicitor Dan Stants.

Because the position in the council of governments is not a statutorily required one, there is no requirement for the IRC to advertise to fill the post, Stants said.

Frederick’s time as executive director of the IRC comprises two stints.

The first began with the organization’s founding in 1991 and lasted until 1997, when Blair County created a Solid Waste Department that took over curbside recycling and composting.

After that, the IRC continued to exist, but its only activities were housekeeping and grant applications, and it had no paid staff.

Then in 2009, the organization assumed responsibility again for curbside recycling on the encouragement of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which believed the program needed more oversight than the county could provide, and it hired Frederick again to lead it, according to Frederick.

In 2012, the organization also took back composting and household hazardous waste and electronics collection, after the county closed the Solid Waste Department.

Blair County is “not a particularly green county” — lacking “a sustainability ethic” and a recycling tradition — while state funding of recycling programs has been uneven, which has led to frustration and struggle, Frederick said.

But there have been satisfactions, he said.

The curbside mixed recycling program is in the bottom 20 percent for communities in the state and dropoff recycling outreach in non-IRC communities has encountered some difficulties, he said.

But the mixed curbside program is not in the “abysmal” bottom 10th, at least, and the yard waste collection program is in the top third among Pennsylvania communities, Frederick said.

Moreover, some outlying municipalities have em­braced dropoff sites, while the IRC’s periodic hazardous waste and electronics collections are strong, he said.

It often seemed that discouraging events alternated quickly with their opposite, Frederick said, citing one instance in which dismissive statements about recycling by a local lawmaker were followed by energetic rebuttals from residents.

In addition to the lack of a local recycling tradition, contributing factors to the curbside collection problems include the private subscription hauler system, which has led to 20 companies servicing the IRC municipalities, the current poor market for recyclables and our location in an area where there is not enough volume to justify large investment in processing centers that would bring down the cost for haulers to offload recyclables by creating economies of scale.

The size and efficiency of processing centers matters because it can create a larger gap between the cost for haulers of offloading recyclables versus the cost of offloading rubbish.

When the gap is great — when it’s far cheaper for haulers to offload recyclables than to offload rubbish — there’s strong incentive to keep their recyclables separate from their trash and to encourage their customers to do the same.

When the gap is small — it’s approximately zero for fully mixed (single-stream) recyclables and only $20 a ton for dual-stream recyclables (paper products and all the rest) the incentive for compliance tends to evaporate.

Currently, haulers who bring single-stream or fully mixed recyclables to the major local transfer station pay about $80 a ton, the same they pay to offload rubbish.

If they separate the recyclables into two streams — paper products and all else — they still pay $60 a ton.

If they separate everything into all the component streams, they pay only $5 or $10, but only one hauler he knows of does that at curbside, Frederick said.

Frederick is planning to work through April 11, according to the resignation letter.

Frederick’s new job will “present some exciting challenges” and will allow him to do work related to the environment and recreation, he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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