The three boroughs in the heart of the Upper Perkiomen Valley are advertising for bids to investigate the cost of moving from their own municipality-run programs to those run by a private contractor.  

        Last week representatives from Red Hill, Pennsburg and East Greenville all met in Pennsburg to discuss options for their current programs.  Officials from the three boroughs have publicly said, over the past few months, that prices are down for recycling materials and they have had to pay for services they previously received money for.

        "The cost of everything is down," said Pennsburg Councilman Bruce Lord during a Nov. 2 borough meeting.  "We've been losing money on colored glass for a while.  We're hitting a point with the equipment where it's showing its age.  This stuff has been let go."

        On March 15 the three solid waste and recycling committee members from each municipality decided to get bid specifications separate from trash services, which are currently provided by J.P. Mascaro and Sons.  The three boroughs have traditionally gone together to bid out those services in order to get better rates, officials said.    

        Red Hill runs its own recycling center on Graber Alley, which is open 24 hours a day for drop-off.  Pennsburg and East Greenville jointly run a recycling center on West Side Alley.  Borough employees are used for curbside pickup in those two locations, which alternates service per location every other week.

           The recycling center utilizes one part-time employee, officials said.   

        "We've had our ups and downs with the price fluctuation," said Red Hill recycling committee member Chuck McCleary.  "What we used to get paid for having someone else haul is now costing us between four and eight hundred dollars every six weeks.

        "We'll have to weigh the service versus the taxpayer money we're using.  We're not in it to make money, but to break even."

        East Greenville Manager Jim Fry said the price of plastics has been down for months because it directly correlates to the price of oil, which has been down since the fall.  Fry said Pennsburg and East Greenville are currently getting 8 cents per pound for number 2 colored plastic and 1 cent per pound of number 1 plastic. 

        They pay 1 cent per pound of numbers 3, 5 and 7 plastic, which they started accepting this year though.  Fry said they paid $32 to get rid of their last load of mixed (3, 5, 7) plastic.

        The prices of other materials have also dropped, including a 1 cent payout per pound of tin.  Aluminum garners about 43 cents per pound.

        The real issue, he said, has been that the boroughs have had to pay to get rid of green and brown glass for over a year.  They are currently paying $20 a ton to dispose of those materials.  In 2015, he said they collected a total of 36 tons of mixed colored glass, compared to 26 tons of clear glass.  Clear glass pays $20 per ton. 

        McCleary said Red Hill is now having to pay to ship their plastics, but is getting nominal revenue for them.  It also has to pay to have glass hauled away. 

        Red Hill stopped taking cardboard and tin approximately five years ago.  Pennsburg and East Greenville still hold cardboard recycling days once per month.      

        In November, Pennsburg and East Greenville officials each agreed to contribute $1,000 out of their general funds to cover equipment costs for the recycling center, including transmission repairs to the 1997 Freightliner recycling truck and $1,000 in repairs for the center's heater.

        "A lot of factors have to be considered...the age of the equipment, possible replacements that have to be made," McCleary said.  "There's no grant money.  It's about being able to find places to take the recyclables without us paying a lot of money."

        "We're probably at break-even right now," said Fry of Pennsburg and East Greenville's program.  "With selling some of the materials, it's paying its bills.  This isn't the first time prices have been down.  Every few years when oil goes down, prices go down."

        Fry said most of the recycling equipment was purchased with grant money, and is getting up in age, but the boroughs could look for more grant money for repairs or new equipment.  While grant money specifically labeled for recycling has disappeared, there may be more grant money available through different programs, he explained.

        He also noted the boroughs get state grant money, called performance grants, based on their recycling tonnage.  He said East Greenville recently received $608 for 2013 from Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

        "It's going to have to come down to what the borough councils see as economically feasible for them.  We've been doing it this way for 25 years.  If we switch to an outside contractor, though, it's going to be really difficult to going back to doing it ourselves; starting it up again."

        "Personally if we can keep the recycling center operating on its own funds I would like to see it kept in operation," Pennsburg Councilman and recycling committeeman Cody Belmont said.  "It would keep the yearly trash costs down for the residents and, in my opinion, that's what matters most."