Oakmont making progress in Ann Street recycling program

Oakmont has a lot of trash, and it’s a great problem for Boyd Jones, director of business development and public relations for Michael Brothers Hauling.

The borough partnered with the dumpster company about two years ago for a medley of recycling services the company offers. After operating in the Pittsburgh area for more than 50 years, Michael Brothers is able to handle glass, cardboard, wood, concrete, drywall, scrap metal, holiday lights and other recycling services.

The company also works with construction and demolition materials and operates material recovery facilities.

“Essentially, all of the dumpsters from homeowners in your borough all the way down to the large university job site that we’re doing in the city of Pittsburgh, we’re bringing those materials back and seeing what we can take from there out of those materials,” Jones said.

Around two years ago, the borough began a recycling project on Ann Street. The initiative was headed by the assistant borough manager, Phyllis Anderson. People are able to recycle glass, aluminum cans and most recently, cardboard.

“Since June 2023, we’ve recycled about 1.25 ton of aluminum cans,” Jones said.

He said aluminum is an extremely reusable material and is able to be returned to shelves within weeks to months.

“Since March of this year, we’ve recycled close to 14 ton of cardboard,” Jones said.

Cardboard comes back to the Michael Brothers facilities to make 1,200-pound bales which are sent to local processors who turn them into roll stock to be sold as recycled boxes.

The dumpster company also hauls recycled glass from the site to its facility in Reserve Township to crush it and ship it to CAP Glass in Mt. Pleasant which sorts and resells the material.

He said Michael Brothers has been able to collect 125 tons of glass from the recycling program.

“It’s really exciting to see a community that is really apt to recycling and having recycling-minded members out there in the community,” Jones said.