A $2.3 million recycling grant to help both Mercer and Lawrence counties may be recycled back to the state if Lawrence County Commissioners don't make a decision soon.

The grant would provide money for a consolidation center in Wilmington Township, Mercer County, for both counties to haul bulk recycling items and bulk recycling bins for Lawrence County communities, according to Mercer County Commissioner Kenneth Seamans.

Recyclables would go from the consolidation center to a bigger recycling site in Meadville.

"It could be a savings of thousands and thousands of dollars to the county," Seamans said of the grant. Without the center, he said smaller trucks have to haul recyclables directly to Meadville six or seven times a day.

"It would save us all kind of money, save us on the trips to Meadville, fuel, save us on time in hours spent hauling. It would save all the way around," he said.

Seamans said the state Department of Environmental Protection, which provided the grant more than two years ago to Lawrence County to be used in conjunction with Mercer County, originally gave both counties a deadline of Dec. 31, 2002, to get everything concerning the recycling program under contract.

"We (Mercer County) got involved at a meeting in December when we agreed to take over the building of a consolidation center," said Seamans.

Seamans said they are looking at a site in Wilmington Township off state Route 158 near the New Wilmington Livestock Auction barn.

That agreement to build the $1.3 million center held off the Dec. 31 deadline. The rest of the grant money, about $1 million, is earmarked for Lawrence County to buy bulk recycling bins and that, Seamans and Norb Kendall -- a Wilmington Township, Lawrence County, delegate to Lawrence County Regional Council of Governments and a member of their solid waste advisory committee -- is the problem.

Lawrence County commissioners have not agreed to buy the type of recycling bins that DEP specified, they said.

"They want to buy some other type of cheaper bin, but it's not compatible with this (V-Quip) system," said Seamans. "It won't cost Lawrence County money to get them. They have a $900,000 grant to buy them. The other bins are not compatible with the system and V-Quip was specified in the grant."

Last year, Mercer County bought V-Quip bins for bulk recycling in the Shenango Valley. The bins are located at the Shenango Valley Mall, Hermitage.

DEP has given the counties a new deadline of Feb. 28 to get the V-Quip system under contract. It will take two of the three Lawrence County commissioners to approve the contract. But two, Roger M. DeCarbo and Brian Burick, say V-Quip bins will be too expensive to purchase and operate. The third commissioner, Ed Fosnaught agrees with DEP that the V-Quip bins were specified choice according to the grant agreement.

As for operating the system, Kendall said that Lawrence County COG agreed in April to run the recycling system for the county. "We voted unanimously to administer this system. At that point the commissioners liked it because it would take the onus off the county," he said.

Kendall and Seamans both said that if the grant is lost because of a missed deadline, it could affect both counties future grant status, and possibly the whole region.

"When this grant application was filled out over two years ago, a lot of counties fought to get that recycling grant, and the word has spread throughout Pennsylvania that there's been $2.3 million not being used. The word was to these counties that Lawrence County doesn't have a progressive system and they needed the money to get it implemented. And they still haven't," said Kendall.

"DEP was very plain with us. If we lose this money, both counties would be at the bottom of the list for applying for (solid waste) grant money. We'd be at the bottom for any kind of DEP grants," said Seamans. "Its really bordering on inexcusable. They signed this agreement and they're not holding up to their word. By changing their mind, we could lose the grants and it would affect us long term according to the DEP."

Kendall said he thought that Lawrence County probably shouldn't bother applying for any DEP grants until there was a "wholesale change of people running the county. Lawrence County is the problem child for the DEP."

But he didn't think Mercer County would be affected as negatively as Lawrence County. "It shouldn't reflect badly on Mercer County because they've been in good standing with the DEP, but you don't know. And it will have an effect on the counties working regionally together."

New Castle News Staff Writer Debbie Wachter Morris contributed to this story.