Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Center gets community involvement award

It started with a barrel. When Elaine Williams had the idea that developmentally challenged adults in the area could learn to recycle newspapers and could make money at it, she set up a barrel and invited the community to drop in their newspapers. Today, Williams is director of the countys official recycling center.

The Nevada County Recycling and Work Center won the Arkansas Recycling Coalitions community involvement award. The award was presented during the ARCs joint trade show for centers from Arkansas and Mississippi.

Elaine Williams, director of the Prescott center, said the local facility has been open since 1995. The two major goals are to promote recycling in the area by providing a convenient way to recycle, and to offer gainful employment to developmentally disabled adults who might not otherwise have a job.

Williams said the recycling center is part of Nevada County Day Services Center, and that shes been working with developmentally challenged adults for about 30 years. She came up with the idea of recycling when she was looking for some meaningful tasks her clients could perform.

It started with a barrel and a sign asking for donations of newspapers. Williams said she put the barrel outside one of the local school campuses, then waited to see what would happen. A few people dropped in papers, then a few more. Soon Williams was looking for a bigger way to collect papers.

When she and her clients had worked at the project for some time, she was finally ready to take her first load of paper ready for recycling to the company that had agreed to purchase it - International Paper at Camden. The trip was eventful and Williams said the group spent some additional time picking up the papers that blew off the truck.

And I got the check and it was for 27 dollars and 47 cents.

She said the general opinion was that she was crazy for continuing to think the project was going to work, but she never gave up. She asked for a building and the recycling center became a reality. Today, the group operates machinery including balers, shredders and crushers. They accept much more than newspapers. In Williams words, You name it, we recycle it.

The one exception is glass. Williams said the center can take newspaper, white paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, ink cartridges, electronic equipment including computer components, old telephones, text books and more.

Clients are paid for their participation, Williams said. She said some are paid piecerate, meaning their pay depends on the amount of work they do. Others are paid an hourly rate.

Clients work for three hours each day, then spend some time in the classrooms. They learn money skills, how to handle bank accounts and work on life skills.

And every other week, clients get their checks for their weeks work.

When its payroll week, its wild around here, Williams said.

So what does the future look like for the center and the clients who work there? Williams said she has some ideas that will increase the work and keep the center in full operation. One of those is the possibility of a curbside pickup for city residents. She doesnt yet have all the details, but said she believes its just as possible as starting a recycling center by collecting newspapers in a barrel.

For more information about recycling goods, call the center at 887-6750.