Northern Fayette Getting New Recycling Center
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County workers poured a concrete slab last Wednesday for a new recycling center in the Warrenton area. Photo by Andy Behlen
Residents in Round Top and Warrenton area soon won’t have to travel far for recycling. Fayette County crews began construction last week on a new recycling center on Huenefeld Ln.
just north of Warrenton.
“We really don’t have a central location on the north side of the County,” said Fayette County Recycling Manager Paul Zapalac. “We needed something on the north end with all of the expansion out there.”
Zapalac said the Fayette County Recycling Center has seen a great increase in cardboard packaging from residents who order products online retailers like Amazon.
“Just last year alone we shipped 100 tons more than the previous year,” Zapalac said. “With the development in that area, we know we need cardboard balers because there are a lot of home deliveries.”
The project comes thanks to a $39,000 grant from the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) Solid Waste Advisory Council. Crews from the Pct. 2 and Pct. 4 Road and Bridge Departments are constructing the recycling center on property the County owns at the end of Huenefeld Ln. They will build a 20 ft. by 30 ft. pole barn that will house cardboard and plastics balers.
The County currently stations recycling trailers at the property. Zapalac said county workers stay busy hauling trailers from the Warrenton site to La Grange and back.
Zapalac said he hopes to eventually install a trash compactor at the Warrenton site as
well.
“We’re hauling a lot of air,” Zapalac said.
The balers will help reduce the number of trips county workers make to and from La Grange, Zapalac said.
Zapalac said he hopes to apply for another grant from CAPCOG to build a similar recycling location in Fayetteville. Last week, Fayette County Commissioners signed an interlocal agreement with the City of Fayetteville to build a recycling collection site on City-owned property if the grant comes through.
Zapalac praised the Pct. 2 and Pct. 4 crews who are working on the project. Pct. 2 Commissioner Luke Sternadel said the project illustrates the diverse talents of the County’s road and bridge employees.
“In other counties, if you’ve got an equipment operator, that’s all they do,” Sternadel said. “With our guys, they can weld, they can fabricate, they can operate equipment, they can pour concrete, they can do it all.”