The idea of a county-wide recycling solution may have been quiet for a while.

But that doesn’t mean the idea is dead.

Commissioner Jeff Eggleston discussed the effort during Monday’s work session.

Here’s the plan in a nutshell: The Grunderville Landfill has been closed for nearly 30 years; but it wasn’t formally closed. That formal closure – currently in the works – would release a six-figure closure fund to the county. Discussion has centered on using those funds to establish a recycling center. The county warehouse in Starbrick has most frequently been cited as the location.

A “Sustainability Task Force” was established to work on the plan.

“My plan for the recycling plan is going to be to reconstitute, restart the Sustainability Task Force virtually,” Eggleston said, for the project to move ahead.

“(I) found out that Sheffield has decided to drop their recycling program so we’re down to a handful of townships in the county that have drop off locations,” he said. “The need at this point to kind of address that is pretty high.”

That doesn’t mean that the initiative isn’t without its challenges.

“We’ve spent probably three years trying to research every possible set up everybody has,” he said. “PArt of the challenge is to come up with a system that limits the involvement of the county for a variety of reasons. That makes it much more difficult to come up with a program.

“There’s a level of creativity necessary that isn’t going to happen overnight,” he said, noting he is “going to keep working on it.”

Goals include limited county involvement and development of a system that sustains itself.

“I want something that is going to be here regardless of who is in the county commissioner’s office, who is involved in the community,” he said, noting it will “require a lot of work and continued effort.”

Eggleston explained he is also working to expand a current recreation plan effort to include the landfill site itself as well as the former Birdsall Edey Girl Scout camp.

He said he circulated a letter to the Allegheny National Forest on behalf of the county’s Redevelopment Authority “to request transfer” of the landfill property and “either transfer or lease for the Girl Scout camp.”