Recycling program's success adds to county's costs

Operating costs of DuPage County's latex paint recycling program spiked nearly $6,500 last year, but that's because workers took in more than 11 tons of electronics as well.

Results from the summer-long paint recycling program were released at Tuesday's county board environmental committee meeting. It cost the county $24,161.81 to run the program from June through mid-August compared to the $17,756 bill tallied in 2007.

However, environmental committee chairman Jeff Redick attributed the rise in costs to an electronics recycling program that was added last year and used staff already in place for the paint program at the county's wastewater treatment facility in Woodridge.

"We put the two programs together and there wasn't designated staff for only electronics or paint," Redick said. "If there were, it probably would have cost more."

The paint recycling program is in its eighth year.

Nearly 700 more gallons of paint were collected in 2008 compared to the previous year. Workers collected 8,640 gallons in 2008 compared to 7,945 in 2007. However, the quality last year wasn't as good as in previous years, according to the report. Workers were only able to salvage 2,590 gallons for reuse, compared 2,720 gallons in 2007. At its peak in 2004, nearly 5,000 gallons were able to be processed for reuse.

Redick said the reusable paint is free to anyone who wants it, and any leftovers are given to housing charities. Paint that isn't reusable is dried out and disposed of by the state.

The state partners with the county for the program and chipped in $22,374 last year as well, a bump from $18,967 in 2007.

Redick said the paint recycling program and the electronics recycling program have similar missions by trying to keep unnecessary and hazardous material out of landfills. The electronics program was a first-of-its-kind partnership with SIMS Recycling Solutions in West Chicago. SIMS erases hard drives according to U.S. Department of Defense standards and then destroys other parts of the machines, separating the materials as they are destroyed, county officials said.