01/20/2026
In response to the most recent Facebook posts regarding the recycling processes for Page County Solid Waste & Recycling, I am going to lay out our process and attempted to answer any of the concerns and questions that I saw when reading those posts.
First and foremost, let me introduce myself and make it known that I am available if anyone ever has any questions, concerns, comments, or complaints. My name is Tobey Longanecker and I have been with the county for almost 14 years. I started as a scale operator and have worked my way to being the Office Manager and Recycling Coordinator. I have been very active in terms of public education; spoken at and arranged demonstrations at all of the elementary schools, spoken to the Ruritan groups, set up at Girl Scout events, Earth Day events, provided supplies for Stanley Elementary for their recycling club and for litter pick up, provided materials for Page Middle School’s courtyard including volunteer hours to assist in construction of that. All of this is to say that I (as do my coworkers) take our job serious and are advocates for sustainability and recycling. As someone with a Bachelors in Accounting, I am also very cognizant about the financial side. We consistently apply for grants and have received several awards for the work we are able to do with the limitations that we work within. I am going to break down recycling as a whole, our limitations, and the process we specifically use for our residents.
Recycling as a whole
Recycling is presented as a feel-good practice that saves the planet and where everything is able to be recycled. In a dream world, maybe. Reality is that while most things can be recycled there is not always a market for said commodity. Recycling is collected either single steam (comingled) or multi stream (separated by commodity). Recycling is shipped to different vendors depending on what they take. For example, some recycling plants may take paper, cardboard, plastic all mixed together, and it goes through a sorting line and other plants may only take metal or only take cardboard. The rebate price for each commodity is set by each vendor. Sometimes we get paid for it and sometimes we pay to get rid of it.
Limitations
Due to our location, we are a great disadvantage when it comes to the availability of vendors. Distance can cause transportation costs to more than triple. We have to either pay someone to transport for us or if we transport we have to consider gas, labor, and wear & tear on our vehicles. We are also limited by our budget. We have to work within the confines of a budget and finances that are not controlled completely by us, like a private company might. We also have to make financial decisions that are not only financially efficient but that also have to stand up to public scrutiny.
Our specific process
Recyclables are sorted by consumers and collected at our three locations. Those commodities are picked up and usually brought to the landfill. Depending on what commodity, they are handled differently. Metal is taken directly from whichever site to the Recycle Management site in Stanley. Glass is used as filler for roads and tipping pads inside the cell. Paper, plastic, and cardboard are taken to the landfill and dumped into our shop in separate bunkers. They are bailed and stored until we have enough to haul to Dave’s in Harrisonburg (who is our current vendor). We have one bailer for all commodities.
Response to the recent video posted on Facebook
Why can’t you just answer yes or no to if we are recycling or not?
Because like most of life, it is not that simply. We make every effort to recycling everything that we can while also being the most cost effective for the taxpayers.
Is the video posted from Battle Creek Landfill? I only saw a 3 second clip, so I cannot confirm; but it is very possible that it is from our landfill.
Because most of the time it doesn’t. If the load is contaminated, which usually results from plastic bags full of either trash or recycling is throw into the mix. We cannot take that to any vendor as it because it causes damages to their sort line. They will reject the load and could potentially cut us off completely. If we don’t currently have an outlet for the recycling we will store as much as we can until the current vendor opens back up or until we can find a new vendor. Sometimes we are unable to provide the commodity in the form that the vendor requires, ie. Bails, loose, separated, commingled.
Why are you dumping recycling into the landfill?
We currently run out of space to store any more recycling because our bailer is currently down for repair. Plastic is the commodity that actual costs us money to recycle, so when we are in a situation where we have to landfill something; plastic is generally the one that we opt to landfill. Typically, the rebate provided by recycling paper and cardboard cover the cost of recycling plastic, so that we are still recycling at a surplus instead of a deficient.
In the beginning of December, the hydraulic cylinder went down. We attempted to get it repair; however, because it is so old the parts are no longer available. We are having to have it remade to the tune of almost $4000 just for the cylinder, not including installation. It is also a much longer process than just being able to switch out an old one with a new one. We should have the new one by February 19th.
So why not alert the public when this happens?
To be completely honest, it has taken years to get the public to properly recycle. We do not have the labor force to clean out loads because of contamination; we do not have the equipment to sort commodities on site. Through public education, proper training of staff, and consistency, we are at a point where the public is a rock star in terms of sorting properly or preparing items properly to be recycled. This has taken years and I’m not willing to risk undoing that because a couple times a year, we may have to landfill some plastic. Circumstances can change so quickly that by the time the word got around that we didn’t have a place currently, it would be back up and running again and then people will have stopped recycling just to have to start up again.
Again, here is my contact information if you have any additional concerns or questions; [email protected]
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