HARLINGEN — Is Harlingen becoming greener?
“Slowly,” says John Avilez, the city’s recycling coordinator.
The Harlingen Recycling Center posted impressive numbers for the month of April, raking in 157,886 pounds of material and turning that into $66,353 in sales from recyclables — a 151 percent increase over revenue from last April.
For the year, Avilez told Keep Harlingen Beautiful board members yesterday, revenues are up 61 percent.
“When I started here eight years ago, it was something that people thought of but didn’t do, and we’ve gotten the word out more,” Avilez said yesterday following the meeting. “We’re working with the school district very closely. We do tours for the schools. I think they take that home and families are becoming more aware.
“Our numbers, as you can see, have gone up,” he added.
The recycling center is located at 1006 South Commerce Street, and entry to the facility is easy.
Avilez says the dropping off process is easy, too.
“You follow the white lines coming in and you go into the center,” he said. “We have employees there that will unload you. It’s as simple as probably 30 seconds if you’ve got a bag or two — you’re in and out.”
A full list of what is and isn’t accepted at the recycling center is found at the facility’s website at http://www.myharlingen.us/page/pw.recyclingcenter
“We would like to get more of the white paper, that’s what pays us more,” Avilez said. “But we’ll take anything — aluminum cans, plastic bottles, books, newspapers, cardboard.”
