Westmoreland Cleanways eyes move to larger Unity recycling center

Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling in 2019 collected more than 2 million pounds of televisions and other electronics along with 6,000 tires.

This year, the Unity Township-based nonprofit should be able to handle an even larger volume. A planned move to a new drop-off recycling center near Pleasant Unity will increase its indoor storage space more than sixfold.

Unity Township Planning Commission this week approved a final site plan for the proposed center along Pleasant Unity-Mutual Road, just south of Route 130.

“We needed more warehouse space,” said Ellen Keefe, the organization’s executive director who has spent several years looking for a new site to replace the facility they’ve outgrown at Innovative Park, off Route 30 near Beatty Crossroads.

“We’re going from 3,400 square feet to 22,000 square feet,” Keefe said. “One of our (state environmental) requirements is that everything be under roof. We had just outgrown where we were. There was no way we could keep everything contained the way we had to.”

Keefe said the 8-acre property, across the road from the Unity Township Municipal Authority office, is being purchased from Innovative Supply Co. by JVS Environmental of Somerset County, which has partnered with Westmoreland Cleanways to process recyclable electronics the nonprofit collects.

Cleanways will lease the new site from JVS. It comes with seven large pole buildings, some of them interconnected, that were used for a metal recycling business but now are vacant.

With wooded areas serving as buffers between the buildings and neighboring properties, Cleanways is seeking relief from normal township landscaping requirements, which must be approved by the township supervisors.

“We’re really happy to be part of this,” said Vince Gusbar, one of the owners of JVS Environmental. “I think this is a great opportunity to grow our partnership into the future and provide recycling solutions to Western Pennsylvania.”

Cleanways will continue to accept the same items it takes at Innovative Park — including televisions and glass bottles, which have been eliminated from many other recycling programs. The center’s drive-through drop-off also will be retained.

With the extra space, Keefe said, “we have a lot of plans to add additional materials to collect. Styrofoam is a big one.”

She said the organization would like to buy a machine that can melt and compact bulky plastic foam pieces into plastic cubes that can be more easily marketed.

Keefe hopes to move all drop-off recycling to the new site in February.

She said existing recycling center hours will be maintained: noon to 5 p.m. Mondays; 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; and 8:30 a.m. to noon the second Saturday of each month.

For now, Cleanways will continue to lease office space at Innovative Park, but Keefe eventually wants to construct an updated office, meeting room and classroom at the new site. She said the organization will continue to operate with three full-time staff members and two part-time managers.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Keefe said of the move to a larger facility. “It’s in move-in condition.”