Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority

Recycling authorities that used to depend on China to take their materials need new ways to dispose of or sell the material. Some communities have resorted to using landfills, incineration or stockpiling.

But in Centre County, China’s new policy hasn’t been an issue for a simple reason.

“We don’t export material to China. We never have,” said Joanne Shafer, Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority deputy director. 

Shafer said the national concerns about recycling haven’t affected Centre County in any major way.

Centre County’s Recycling and Refuse Authority’s Miscellaneous Plastics Drop Off Program is making some changes in the type of plastics it can accept.

“We can’t take black plastic anymore, no cups, no solo cups anymore,” said Amy Schirf, education coordinator for the Recycling and Refuse Authority. “The other thing that was big was packaging. If you would open up a toothbrush and there was like that plastic packaging that goes around it – we used to take that, but we can’t take that anymore either.”

Amy Schirf pointed out the trash among the recyclables on the sorting line at the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority.

“We get a lot of pom poms, a lot of purses…there’s part of a cooler, bags of buns,” she said.

It's the first work day after Penn State's home game against Georgia State on Saturday and workers are sorting through the contents of the blue recyclables bags from the tailgate fields.