Meet the Cortland County Recycling Coordinator Chris Spadolini

Matt Brooks: [00:00:00] Good morning. I’m Matt Brooks on X 1 0 1 Always Classic in for another edition of Meet Cortland County. And joining me on the line, Chris Spadolini, Cortland County Recycling Coordinator. Now first off, thank you for joining me this morning, Chris.

Chris Spadolini: Sure. Matt, thank you very much for having me back again.

Matt Brooks: Well, it’s 2026.

First I gotta ask, is there anything new coming up for this year at the Recycling Center

Chris Spadolini: so far? 2026 is. About the same as last year regarding, uh, plastic tin, paper glass. That hasn’t changed, uh, much at all. We are still doing the paint recycling fluorescent light bulbs, automotive tires. None of that has really changed.

One thing we’ve got coming up is we’re going to attempt to do two hazardous waste collection events this year. In years past, we’ve only done one every October. We’re gonna try and do two this year. We’ve got one tentatively scheduled for April 11th. And then we’re gonna try and get another one scheduled in October.

We haven’t got all the final details on there yet, but we do know that there will be one in April and hopefully two for the year.

Matt Brooks: Oh, that sounds good. [00:01:00] Especially in April, since that’s when people do spring cleaning, so Exactly. It’s a, it’d be a great time to have a hazardous, uh, a waste day. Now, speaking of recycling, I know in interviews past there’s been some challenges to, uh, people properly recycling.

Can you tell me about those hurdles and challenges?

Chris Spadolini: Sure, sure. The biggest challenge for us is just contamination. We need to make sure that the products that come in are clean and not soiled with food as well as, uh, contamination in the, in terms of, uh. Unacceptable items. Bubble wrap, styrofoam, certain plastic items that are not acceptable.

As you know, we’ve talked about the, the chasing arrow symbol with a number one, two, and five inside. Those are the only items we can accept. Any of those other numbers are not recyclable at this time and should be just discarded in your regular trash. 10 and glass, still the same. There’s not too many requirements there.

We’ll take just about anything.

Matt Brooks: You mean you, you mentioned the chasing arrows, the one two fives, [00:02:00] and is there any other recycling tips that, uh, would help recycling not be considered contaminated and get to the proper channels?

Chris Spadolini: Well, probably the biggest thing again is just make, making sure it’s clean, especially the food soiled stuff, because if there’s too much contamination, we run the risk of actually being, having an entire load being rejected at the processor because of the contamination.

And one of the biggest thing is, is food contamination. Uh, when it comes to the plastics that, uh, we like to make sure that we can get that as clean as possible. A lot of the plastic caps and lids should also be removed and discarded as well.

Matt Brooks: Yeah. Just, uh, in a quick pass through, just while you’re doing dishes, clean those recyclings tool, it, it goes a long way.

Chris Spadolini: Definitely.

Matt Brooks: And, uh, we aren’t running a little bit outta time, uh, Chris, but before, uh, before I let you go, where do people go for more information if they’re trying to learn, like, learn about what to properly recycle the tips and so forth?

Chris Spadolini: The best spot to get the most UpToDate information on our facility would be the uh, Facebook [00:03:00] page, uh, Cortland County Recycling Center.

You can also see information on the Cortland County website@cortlandcountyny.gov, and there’ll be the two best sources to get, uh, some good UpToDate information.

Matt Brooks: Chris, it’s always great to speak with you and, uh. We’ll definitely be talking about the upcoming Hazardous Waste Day in April. But, uh, for now, uh, hope you have a great rest of your weekend, and thank you for joining me this morning.

Chris Spadolini: Great, you too. Thank you very much.

Matt Brooks: It’s been another edition of Meet Corland County here on X 1 0 1 Always Classic. I’m Matt Brooks.