Pennsylvania Township Grows Successful Recycling Program
by Jennifer Berry

Two decades ago, the residents of Hopewell Township in Cumberland County, Pa., began New Hope Recyclers.

Official Website for New Hope Recyclers Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

Originally started to reduce the need for a second landfill in the township (to which the residents were opposed), the recycling program has grown into a successful, single-stream system, according to PublicOpinionOnline.com.

“Some of us decided that if we didn’t want this landfill we would have to do something about it,” said Pat Franklin, who is one of the original organizers of New Hope.

At the beginning, New Hope could only accept plastic bottles, numbers one or two. Now, the organization accepts a number of products, such as:

aluminum cans

Green, brown and clear glass (no blue glass, window glass, frosted glass, crystal or light bulbs)

Plastics 1 through 9 (no plastic bags)

Paper products including office paper, envelopes, cereal boxes, glossy paper, unbundled newspapers and magazines

No matter how small your community may be, you have the chance to make a big impact on the environment. Check out Earth911 to learn more about how you can start your own recycling program in your area.


I saw this blog posting on technorati and since Frederick Maryland is so close to Pennsylvania it occurred to me to include more posts about our neighbor to the North.