PENNTAP Helps Cambria County Recyclers
Be First With Computers on the Route

May 15, 2000

University Park, Pa. --- With help from Penn State’s Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP), Cambria County’s Solid Waste Management Authority (CCSWMA) has become the first in the state to adopt handheld computers to track recycling operations in the field.

Tanya McCoy-Caretti, CCSWMA executive director, says "Our drivers have been using a palm top computer on their recycling pick up routes for about six months now. And, we figure that, from the data collection and data entry standpoint, we save at least 12 hours per week."

By McCoy-Caretti’s calculations that means that they have already saved well over the original $1000 hardware and software cost and are reaping, as well, increased productivity, more accurate records on the quality of their recyclables and improved ways to track and target their educational activities.

Cambria County offers 10 collection sites to recycle newspaper, clear glass and metal. Residents bring their recyclables to these sites and once each week, Michael Lieb, CCSWMA collections supervisor, comes by with a truck to pick them up. He collects only one type of material on a given day and, before he had the palmtop, used a pencil and paper to record, at each site, the amount and condition of the load before taking it to the Indiana County Materials Recovery Facility weigh station for processing. In those days, when Lieb got back to the office after making the rounds on his route, he had to spend an additional 35 minutes or more, each day, re-entering the collected data in the office computer.

McCoy-Caretti says "My thought was UPS has a handheld data collection device. Pepsi delivery personnel do too. So, the technology has to be out there. And that’s when I went to Ralph at PENNTAP."

Ralph Caretti, a PENNTAP senior technical specialist based at Penn State’s University Park Campus, also just happens to be Tanya’s brother-in-law. In his job at PENNTAP, Caretti provides computer advice and direct hands-on assistance, free of charge, to help Pennsylvania business and industry improve their competitiveness. PENNTAP also sometimes provides help for non-profit organizations, too.

"It took only about a week to find a suitable palmtop, a Casio Cassiopeia, that could do the job and to pick database software, structure it, write an application and then teach the system to Mike Lieb, who picked up on it right away," Caretti says.

Lieb says, "For somebody like me who’s not a computer whiz, I found it to be relatively simple. It’s very similar to the Windows program I was using in the office. So, it was just a matter of, just using the stylus instead of using the mouse. Just touching the screen."

Now, at the collection sites, Lieb simply pulls down a menu on the palmtop’s screen and points to the name of the site, the material he is picking up, the amount and then notes any contamination. At the end of the day, when he returns to the office, he places the palmtop in its cradle and it automatically downloads the data into the office computer.

With the data in the office computer, McCoy-Caretti can double-check the records supplied by the weigh station when they send payment for the recyclables. Metal recyclables contaminated with plastic, for example, bring a lower price than a clean load. More accurate contamination records makes for more accurate payments, she says.

McCoy-Caretti notes that within the last three weeks they’ve also realized that the system has other benefits, too. She explains, "When the driver is out there collecting material from 10 different sites, he may see that at one site, for example, the glass bin is contaminated with a lot of plastic. Or, at another site, the paper in the bin is wet. With that information over a period of time, I can target my educational efforts. I know that I need to get into the local newspapers in those two areas and re-inforce the fact that plastic cannot go into the glass bin and the paper has to be kept dry. So, it actually shows me where to spend my educational dollars."

McCoy-Caretti used grant money to fund the palmtop project. She explains, "Pennsylvania’s recycling programs are legislated under Act 101 which has under Section 902 monies specifically appropriated for capital equipment expenses for developing recycling programs. The grants are 90 percent funded by the state with a 10 percent match. So, 90 percent of the $1000 cost of the device and software was refundable and our 10 percent match was made from the use of my time in helping Ralph with the development of this project."

The CCSWMA executive director described the new program at the State Data Management Workshop, held on November 4, 1999, for representatives of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania. As a result, other communities throughout the state have indicated interest. Caretti says he is happy to provide data and background on the Cambria County pilot program.

PENNTAP, the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, is a federal, state and university partnership for economic development.

**bah**

Contacts:

Barbara Hale (814) 865-9481 (o)/ (814) 238-0997 (h)

Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o)/ (814) 238-1221 (h)

EDITORS: Ralph Caretti is at (814) 863 1579 or by email; Tanya McCoy Caretti is at (814) 472-2109 or by email.