Byrnes Mill will be able to continue operating its recycling center, partly due to a grant from the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District.
City Clerk Melinda Benedict said she and Public Works Supervisor Bob Schmidt asked the Solid Waste Management District for $91,638 in grant funding and received $54,982.80, which will be used to offset rising hauling and operational costs at the recycling center, 4197 Lower Byrnes Mill Road.
“Thanks to continued support from St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management, we are able to provide this service to not only Byrnes Mill residents, but all of the surrounding area,” Benedict said. “On average, we have 1,450 people visit our recycling center each month, diverting as much as 20 tons of waste from landfills per month.”
In addition to the current grant, the city has funding left over from 2022 and 2023 grants, Benedict said.
She said the city has a total of $173,700 in grants to be used at the recycling center, adding that the city has been awarded on average $64,327 in grant funding each year for the past three years, which is about what it costs to run the center each year.
“We’re estimating that 2023 invoices are going to total about $57,000, leaving us with about $116,000, which is right where Bob (Schmidt) and I wanted to be,” Benedict said at the Feb. 21 Board of Alderpersons meeting. “Moving forward, we might discuss further the future of recycling, but I don’t think that the fact that they cut us to $54,000 is a reason to panic at this moment.”
According to the city’s website, the recycling center is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The center accepts plastic, paper and metal waste. All containers must be emptied and rinsed out before being recycled.
“The recycling center is considered a positive resource to the community, and one we hope to continue providing for years to come,” Benedict said.
The Solid Waste Management District generally awards 50 to 60 grants each year for recycling projects in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County, according to its website.