By Jeremy Selweski
C & G Staff Writer

OAKLAND COUNTY — Since the beginning of the month, the Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority has expanded its recycling options to include a number of new materials.

As of July 1, SOCRRA — which serves Berkley, Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Clawson, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Lathrup Village, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Troy — is now accepting green and blue glass bottles and, among other items, milk cartons.

In the past, only clear and brown glass were acceptable, but now all glass bottles, no matter the color, can be recycled. Containers such as milk cartons and ice cream cartons, juice boxes, paper cups and other food and beverage boxes are also new to the list of acceptable materials.

SOCRRA made the decision to expand following a six-month trial in which glass bottles and cartons could be brought to the SOCRRA drop-off center in Troy. The trial proved to be hugely successful, and now those same items can be recycled with the convenience of curbside pickup.

“We wanted to see if there was a market for these items,” said Kathy Hyde, executive assistant and education director for SOCRRA, about the trial. “We’re always looking at ways of expanding our recyclable materials.”

SOCRRA General Manager Jeff McKeen pointed out that residents have frequently asked in recent years about curbside recycling for the new materials, but until now the organization had been unable to grant those requests.

And city officials are happy to be able to give their residents more options and a greater incentive to recycle.

In order to promote recycling of asceptic containers in Huntington Woods, the city had previously offered a drop-off at its Department of Public Works.

“We try to accommodate our residents as best we can,” said Public Works Manager Claire Galed. “We’re really excited about these changes; we’ve been telling our residents that they’re coming. The more materials being recycled, the better — we’d like to eventually have no trash.”

Berkley City Manager Jane Bais-DiSessa was also glad to be expanding recycling in the city. “We’re very excited to be able to provide this type of service to our residents,” she said. “I think it will further encourage recycling and increase our recycling efforts.”

Hyde and Galed pointed out another key benefit of increasing the number of recyclable materials: more money saved by SOCRRA and its 12 member cities.

For instance, SOCRRA receives about $18 a ton for recycling colored glass bottles, as opposed to paying about $21 a ton to dispose of those same bottles in the trash and have them transported to a landfill. In 2007 alone, SOCRRA communities earned about $855,000 from recycling.

“Those items are now being kept out of the waste stream, and we don’t have to pay to dispose of them,” Hyde said.

Galed agrees. “Everything that’s recycled translates to more revenue for the city,” she said, “and everything thrown out is a cost to the city. We’re hoping our (recycling) numbers will continue to increase.”

But McKeen stressed that “it’s hard to say how much money we will save” by recycling colored glass and containers like milk cartons. “It’s too early to tell at this point,” he said.

SOCRRA updates its recycling guidelines every year on July 1, and Hyde hopes they will continue to add more recyclable items as time goes on.

“It’s all about what the people who buy materials from us will accept,” she said. “Colored glass no longer has to be separated. It can be a mixed stream because (the glass processing company) has found a way to effectively recycle it.”

And though McKeen is happy with the progress SOCRRA has made, there are still a couple of items on his recyclable materials wish list. “Styrofoam is the biggest one,” he said. “And plastic bags — those are the two big exceptions.”

Hyde will be giving a free one-hour workshop on recycling at the REI store in Troy, 766 E. Big Beaver Road, on July 15 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. No reservations are required. For more information, call SOCRRA at (248) 288-5150.

To view SOCRRA’s complete curbside recycling guidelines, visit www.socrra.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Selweski at jselweski@candgnews.com or at (586) 218-5004.