FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — Venango County has received a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a study on the feasibility of a countywide recycling center.

According to Venango County Planning Commission Executive Director Jason Ruggiero, the grant is around $35,000.00 and will allow the county to study whether or not a full-time recycling center in the county makes sense.

“The study will look at it from a business perspective,” Ruggiero said. “It will look at it to see if it is a potential revenue stream for the county, how many pounds we could expect to collect, what the cost of running the center might be. Everyone thinks it would be a good entity to have in the county. It would be a convenient center to have. But, we want to look at it from a dollar sense. Can we make it cost neutral to the taxpayer if not cost positive?”

Ruggiero said he hopes the study can be started within the next month, and he said it should take six months to a year to complete.

“We would hire an outside firm to do it,” Ruggiero said. “A firm that specializes in examining these types of markets, someone who has experience in the recycling world, someone familiar with buying and selling those kinds of goods.”

According to Ruggiero, part of the study would also include studying possible locations for the facility and how it would be operated.

“We have some ideas we have kicked around,” Ruggiero said. “Would the center be manned by the county and then have a contract with private haulers to haul it away? What are the different cost structures and what would make the most sense?”

“The location would also be part of the study. We have had offers and discussions about location. The study would look at different alternatives. It is really like creating a business plan, just as like if you would start a business. The study will look at different locations and evaluate them for daily traffic. Is it sustainable? Ideally, we would want to put it in a place where people are already going. So, what would make it more convenient? Would it be somewhere in the commercial area in Cranberry Township? Would it be located in one of our cities (Franklin or Oil City)? Would it be in one of the smaller boroughs or larger townships on the outskirts of these places? It would seem to make sense to place it where there are already amenities where people are already going to ship, eat, entertain themselves, etc. But the study will look at all of that.”

Ruggiero said the county wants to conduct the feasibility study because of the success it has had with its quarterly and sometimes bi-monthly recycling collections at the Cranberry Mall over the past several years.

“It keeps growing in popularity,” Ruggiero said. “And, the state has passed laws that prohibit people from just putting certain items at the curb (for the garbage haulers). Things like TVs, household hazardous waste like household chemicals, antifreeze, things like that. We would take all of that plus your standard recycling items like glass, newspapers, cardboard, plastics.”

According to Ruggiero, one of the ways the site could become cost neutral or cost positive for the county is through the reselling of some of the collected material.

“We would acquire a product, bail, store, and then resell it for a third party to profit,” Ruggiero said. “The study will tell us how feasible that is.”

Ruggiero is hoping that the grant will be in a position to be accepted by the commissioners at the August 14 Venango County Commissioners meeting, and then a consultant to conduct the study could be hired at the September 11 commissioners’ meeting.