Photo by Becky Polaski Elk County Solid Waste Authority Chairman Russ Braun and Elk County Recycling/Solid Waste Coordinator Bekki Titchner discussed a variety of topics, including the county’s efforts to provide residents with a means of recycling their old Christmas lights, during their meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

By Becky Polaski

Staff Writer

RIDGWAY – So far the county’s effort to offer residents a means of recycling their old Christmas lights has been a success. 

During the Elk County Solid Waste Authority’s monthly meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Elk County Recycling/Solid Waste Coordinator Bekki Titchner informed Authority members that two boxes full of old Christmas lights have already been collected. Those lights were dropped off at the county’s monthly electronics collection on Saturday.

“A lot of people are going to LEDs which last a lot longer and they are brighter and they are a bit more expensive up front, but Holiday LEDs has been collecting old lights for a number of years now and we’ve had people drop them off,” Titchner said.

Titchner added that a portion of the donations that have been received for the electronics recycling program have been set aside to cover the cost of postage to mail the lights in to Holiday LEDs.

“That is our only cost in this is postage and they’re pretty light,” Titchner said.

In addition to dropping the Christmas lights off during the monthly electronics collections, residents can also take them directly to the Elk County Recycling Office at the Courthouse Annex in Ridgway.

Other topics from the meeting included:

• Titchner informed Authority members that the dates have been set for the 2010 medicine collections. The two collections are scheduled for Saturday, April 24 and Saturday, Oct. 2 from 8 a.m. to noon at Elk Regional Health Center.

• Authority members also discussed the recent plastics and electronics collections.

• Titchner updated Authority members on the result of the clean up of the old Township dump that was held in Jay Township at the end of October.

• Authority members discussed the post closure fund.

• Don Henrichs updated Authority members on the recent happenings at Veolia ES Greentree Landfill.