Closure of cardboard processing mills having noticeable impact on Jerseyville
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By Steven Spencer
The temporary closure of multiple cardboard processing mills has had a noticeable impact on the local community.
Boxes of cardboard and recycling have been overflowing from several recycling bins throughout town and has left the Illinois Valley Economic Development Corporation with over 80 tons of cardboard in their Jerseyville workshop.
“Unfortunately, as of January, IVEDC had to suspend their cardboard recycling program dude to the processing mill temporarily ceasing operations,” Brenda Pacini, Chief Operating Officer said. “This has had a great impact on the local community and businesses. IVEDC is currently seeking other outlets for their recycling program and plans to continue the program once that has been secured.”
Illinois Valley Economic Development Corporation is a Community Action Agency operating multiple service programs within the community. Their Community Day Services Program, located in Jerseyville, processes cardboard recycling as a means to provide work and income to many of the developmentally disabled clients that attend their program.
Scott Burns, Workshop Manager, said they’ll finally be sending out one load of cardboard next week, but haven’t shipped one since October.
“I don’t know if this mill is opened up or if it opened up enough to take one load,” Burns said. “But when they called and said they could get one load out of there I said give it to me, we’ll take it.”
Even with one load out of the workshop, Burns said they’ll still be sitting on over 100 bales and 80 tons of cardboard.
“We pick up around 65 stops a week here in town, we do like 18 a day,” Burns said. “I come into work and I pick up the clients when they get there, we drive around to almost everybody in town and we pick up bins with the cardboard they save for us. We bring it back to the shop and bale it.”
Burns said the program was never really designed to make money, but to provide work for their clients, which is his biggest concern.
“We’re there for them. We’re there to help them,” Burns added.
Burns said Republic Services is helping them get the one load out in the next few days and hopes this is a sign that mills will be opening again soon so that the IVEDC clients can get back to work.
“We’re still going to have 70 to 80 tons in the shop,” Burns said. “Hopefully, once we get this load out we can get a couple more out. It’s a good sign, but they still haven’t told me it’s going to be opening up after this. But our clients come first, we are still here and the program is going to keep going, we’re trying to take care of them while we’re shut down.”
