Upper Yoder Township to receive nearly $5,000 for recycling efforts

HARRISBURG, Aug. 25 – State Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria/Somerset, announced that Upper Yoder Township has been awarded a $4,895 state recycling grant.

The Recycling Performance Grant is based on the 552.9 tons recycled in 2012 and the municipality's population.

"Grants such as these provide incentive for communities to remove materials from the waste stream by recycling," Burns said. "In addition to protecting our environment, recycling also contributes to our economic growth by the jobs the industry provides."

Burns noted that there are nearly 4,000 recycling and reuse establishments in the state, employing more than 52,000 people with an annual payroll of $2.2 billion. The industry has annual sales of $20.6 billion.

In 2012, Cambria County recycled 19,472.4 tons of materials. Pennsylvania as a whole recycled more than 8.49 million tons of materials, which equated to saving over 168 trillion British thermal units of energy and cutting more than 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the air.

These grants are provided in addition to the funds provided by the Department of Environmental Protection to help communities establish and maintain recycling programs.