ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — The boards for Southeast Ohio Recycling Terminal and Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District resolved Nov. 10 to fold the recycling center’s operations under the solid waste district’s umbrella.
The recycling center’s finances have been shaky since the city of Athens’ 2023 decision to switch its contract for trash and recycling pickup from what was then the Athens-Hocking Recycling Center to Rumpke. SORT, a council of governments formed in May 2024, absorbed the recycling center’s operations in October 2024.
SORT collects and processes recyclable materials throughout the region through contracts with entities such as Ohio University and Nelsonville, and residential and commercial contracts. SORT also picks up recyclables from numerous drop-off points, supported by the solid waste district.
Crissa Cummings, director for SORT, told the Independent the recycling center has struggled recently due to changes in the commodities market, including decreases in the cost of plastics, cardboard and paper.
“We just ended up in a financial crunch again, and as opposed to going ahead and officially shutting down operations, members of both the SORT board and the solid waste district board wanted to see the infrastructure remain in the area,” Cummings told the Independent.
Solid waste district Director Jane Forrest Redfern said losing SORT would be “devastating to the district,” which comprises Athens and Hocking counties.
“They pick up our recycling and provide assistance with the recycling days,” Forrest Redfern told the Independent. “But most of all, there are thousands of customers out there that rely on SORT to pick up curbside.”
The merger “allows us to better maximize resources and strengthen long term financial stability,” Cummings said. She told the Independent that a five-year financial forecast showed “that the combined entity would be cash-positive” for at least that whole period.
Forrest Redfern said the merger will likely become effective on Jan. 1, 2026.
It will come with efficiencies such as shared office space, and will allow the solid waste district to offer services internally rather than contracting them out, she said.
Nearly 65% of Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District’s expenses this year were forecast to go toward recycling collection, which SORT was contracted to provide.
“The thing is, [the district] was paying [SORT] the fees,” Forrest Redfern said. “So instead of us having to go through this – jump through the hoops, do bids, do that, pay them for recycling days and pay them for this and pay them for that – we’re all going to be one happy family.”
The solid waste district board resolution approving the merger lays out several steps to complete it, including purchasing of the recycling center at 5991 Industrial Drive, and assuming “the operations, staff, leases, agreements and contracts of SORT as soon as possible.”
All 33 people employed by Southeast Ohio Recycling Terminal will become employees of the solid waste district, Cummings said.
Becoming part of the district will provide the employees longer-term stability, Cumming said.
Asked whether the district anticipates it will retain all 33 employees once they’re officially employed by the district, Forrest Redfern said, “The goal is to move the district forward. And, depending on how operations go, and the current grants that we have out and contracts that are coming up, we’re just going to take one day at a time towards making both organizations into one and more efficient and sustainable.”
It is not yet clear how Cummings’ and Forrest Redfern’s positions will be affected by the merger, Cummings said.
SORT will continue to exist on paper after the merger, Forrest Redfern said, as it was awarded a grant for research on biosolids which it will continue to execute for now.
However, Cummings said the organization will seek to get that grant transferred to the solid waste authority.
“There’s still definitely a role for SORT as the transition happens,” Cummings said.
The transfer agreement is currently out for legal review, she added.
The latest in a series of organizational changes
The recycling center operated as part of the solid waste district previously, until it split from the district in 2014, partially due to liability concerns.
After that, the program operated as Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, an independent nonprofit, until the city of Athens’ decision to contract with Rumpke instead of the local recycling center.
In response, the nonprofit transferred most of its assets and operations to SORT, a council of governments. A COG is overseen by a board representing various local government members. The recycling center transitioned to the model partly in the hope that operating as a COG would allow Athens to switch its contract back over. That didn’t happen.
Additionally, because a council of governments cannot take on debt, Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers remained in place to hold the mortgage for the recycling center.
“It was a bad model to move forward with, with SORT, but it’s all good because we’re still chugging,” Forrest Redfern said.
Cummings said the model has had its benefits, allowing more involvement from the communities using the entity’s services.
Shifting back under the auspices of the solid waste district won’t mean reintroducing the liability concerns that initially led AHRC to separate from the solid waste district. That’s because the district will have more fiscal independence this time around, Cummings told the Independent.
“The liability and property insurance will be handled entirely by the solid waste district instead of running through Athens County,” Cummings said.
District finances
Cummings said the merger will allow the recycling center to benefit from tiered fees and generation fees from the district’s landfill.
In a solid waste management plan developed by the district for 2025–2040, it estimated that it would bring in approximately $660,000 from the fees this year, with only $10,000 in other revenue forecast.
Meanwhile, the district estimated expenses of $649,000 in 2025.
In creating the plan, the district raised the tiered fees and generation fees to support its current operations. Because a high percentage of the district’s expenses were in contracts with SORT, the fees will now go directly to support those programs.
Additionally, folding SORT under the district’s umbrella will allow the combined entity to save money by retiring the current mortgage for the recycling center. The mortgage currently held Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, which still exists as an independent nonprofit because of that mortgage.
The district will be able to take out a loan or bond, and potentially secure grant funding, to purchase the center. Compared to the current mortgage, that will save the combined entity about $150,000, Forrest Redfern said.
The combined entity’s five-year financial forecast, which Forrest Redfern told the Independent does not include all the district’s accounts, shows net incomes over the next five years ranging from -$78,000 to nearly $230,000, after the non-cash expense of depreciation is added back in.
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