Oakmont-Verona glass recycling project celebrates a milestone

Oakmont and Verona are so close that residents could walk between them if they decided to do so.

That proximity led the two boroughs to partner on a glass recycling project among other initiatives, and officials had been scheduled to celebrate a milestone on Thursday. In under two years they have collected 100 tons of the everlasting material, sending it on for processing and manufacturing.

Oakmont’s assistant borough manager, Phyllis Anderson, led the effort after learning about an available Department of Environmental Protection grant for local governments through University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs CONNECT program. The two-year grant reduced glass recycling costs, and the partnership with Verona dropped them more, she said back in 2023.   

Her borough covered the initial $2,500 cost for the bin, which is located on a dead-end portion of Ann Street. Every time residents fill the bin with glass, a sensor notifies Michael Brothers, and its staff comes in to take the bin away and leave another behind. The two boroughs split the hauling fee of $400.

It was a win-win, Anderson said, because Oakmont had been paying its waste hauler $8,195 for three glass collections a year.

Appropriately the effort started on St. Patrick’s Day, and Anderson said that holiday and Christmas is when they see the most people heading to the bin with glass jars, bottles and jugs after their celebrations.

With the grant over, the boroughs now just pay the hauling fees. Verona Council Member Trish Hredzak said the revenue that the state sends back for the tonnage collected in recycling helps their respective budgets, too.

Because of Tuesday’s storms, Thursday’s event has been canceled. Anderson said the borough’s street and parks departments are overwhelmed with disaster cleanup. Hulton Road and Allegheny River Boulevard are closed, both major arteries to Oakmont. Trees are down all over Oakmont, and some streets are closed, she added.

Both will make remarks when the 100 Ton Celebration is rescheduled, as well as Oakmont Mayor Sophia Facaros, Oakmont Council President Nancy Ride, CONNECT Executive Director Lydia Morin and Director of Infrastructure and Resiliency Eric Raabe, Pennsylvania Resources Council Deputy Director Sarah Alessio Shay, Michael Brothers Vice President Tom Milani and Business Support Manager Boyd Jones, and CAP Glass Director of Operations Chris Koontz.

Hredzak, who is a chemist, said the effort pleases her for many reasons but especially because of the environmental benefits. “Plastic can only be recycled seven or so times,” she explained, adding that many people don’t realize this and keep buying single-use plastic bottles and containers. “Ultimately, plastic has its limit. Glass is one of those materials that can be recycled infinitely. I love it.

“[It’s] good for the earth, good for the borough. There’s nothing to lose.”

Anderson has been fervently promoting recycling to her borough, and her goal has been to turn that section of Ann Street into a recycling center. She has made progress.  Since March 10 a cardboard recycling system has been installed there, and residents have been bringing clothing they no longer use to a collection point there since the end of 2024. The clothing is sent to a reseller, and the proceeds benefit Oakmont’s volunteer fire company.

Cardboard recycling has been promoted through social media and text alerts. “That is taking off like wildfire, too,” Anderson said, noting that container has been emptied four times already.

Other environmental and energy conservation efforts in Oakmont have included paper shredding events — the next one will be held in September — and in March 2023 it installed an EV-charging station that can handle six plugs at a time at the Third Street parking lot. The borough bought a Ford 150 Lightning electric truck the parks department uses, and residents can come and charge their vehicles for $2 an hour. Oakmont borrowed from its capital reserves to pay for it, so that money helps repay the loan. It also will hold a hard-to-recycle items collection on July 30 that residents can use to dispose of chemicals and more for a fee.

Anderson said such projects help residents clear their closets, attics and basements of unwanted items, too. But she points to the other benefits, notably from the charging station. “We saved [the equivalent of] over 7,000 kg of greenhouse gas emissions with it,” she said. “It’s as if 190 trees had been planted.”

Oakmont council passed a sustainability plan last year, building upon all these efforts.

Hredzak joined Verona council via appointment in early 2021, won an election after serving out that term and is running for reelection this year. A Verona resident since 2015, she said she has seen many leadership changes — such as borough manager and council membership — since she moved there. As she became active in its government, Hredzak sought guidance more than once from next-door neighbor Oakmont leaders and is grateful to Anderson for her graciousness and assistance.  

Prior to council she was an inaugural member of the Verona Parks and Recreation Board, then its vice chair and chair until 2022, according to the borough’s website. She was also a founding board member and vice chair of the nonprofit Verona Community Group until 2021.

She is currently a member of the Verona Community Garden steering committee, Verona Chamber of Commerce, and volunteers for projects such as litter cleanups and Garden Club plantings. 

Upcoming projects that excite her include a trail effort that not only includes Verona and Oakmont but also Plum and Penn Hills and the Allegheny River Boulevard Preservation Project. As those continue, as well as a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation paving project ahead of the U.S. Open in Oakmont this summer, those walks will become safer as well as the five-minute drive between her borough and Oakmont.

Regarding recycling, she sees that the effort still confuses people who need to know what and how to recycle properly. To do so Hredzak knows her council will have to push community engagement and information through social media channels.

PRC’s Shea said although the DEP grant that funded the glass recycling partnership has ended, CONNECT meetings continue, and issues and opportunities around waste removal continue to be discussed.

The efforts please her. Another glass coalition still going strong involves Dormont, Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair. Two accessible bins at Village Square Mall generate lots of drop-offs from the highly populated areas. Shea said Michael Brothers has been pulling the two bins once a month, and if there are 4 to 6 tons each in the bins, that means the boroughs could collect and benefit from up to 12 tons of glass.

Shea explained that the state has recycling performance grants in return for the materials collected — glass, cardboard, paper and metal cans. That started when Pennsylvania implemented recycling, and the rebate is calculated by weight.

“The more glass they recycle the more weight they can put on that recycling grant,” she said. “It ranges depending on the size of municipalities. It can be tens of thousands of dollars you get back. Every little bit helps. Glass is heavy! It’s easier to get heavier numbers with glass.”

PRC will continue its recycling education efforts and push to bring glass recycling to municipalities that don’t collect it curbside. “Just trying to reinvigorate education around the importance of it and to the local economy, too,” Shea said. “We have a lot of glass processors and manufacturers in the state of Pennsylvania.” 

Those efforts really work when local governmental bodies have a leader spearheading the effort. Oakmont has that in Anderson, she said.

“She is such a champion of all different types of services to improve quality of life in her municipality and for her residents.  Someone at the top cheerleading for it makes a big difference the rest of the municipality. They will participate. … She’s so infectious about the entire process.”