By PAMELA GOULD

After a one-year hiatus, Spotsylvania County schools will resume recycling next month.

The school division launched a single-stream recycling effort in April 2010 with a company that picked up the materials for free.

But when J&E Recycling of Spotsylvania was bought out last October, the recycling portion of the business was sold again. The new company said it would need to charge the division for recycling the materials, which put the program on hold.

The division had not budgeted for the more than $30,000 that the new owner said it would cost for pickup, so the program was halted and the recycling containers, which the division bought in 2010 for $25,500, were collected in November and stored centrally.

Last week, the School Board approved hiring Waste Management to restart the single-stream recycling.

The program is scheduled to resume in mid-October and run through the end of June, the end of the fiscal year.

The cost for each pickup is $4.99. With 34 sites and weekly pickups, the cost would be $6,447.08 for this fiscal year.

The division will use the recycling containers it already owns.

The board approved a one-year contract with Waste Management with the option of renewing for four more years. Waste Management's bid was half the cost of the next-lowest bidder.

There is no guarantee the rate will stay the same in future years but the division can request bids again if Waste Management's rate rises, schools spokeswoman Rene Daniels said.

The school division's 34 sites--including schools and other facilities--generated about 6 tons of recyclable materials per week during the program. Most of that went to the county landfill during the hiatus.

Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com