Representatives of two regional recycling business said they'll lose money if Mercer and Lawrence counties go ahead with a joint recycling program.

Jerry Bowser of Tri-County Industries in Springfield Township and Gabe Hudock of Carnegie-based UniPaper Recycling Co. -- which has a branch in Ellwood City -- voiced their concerns about the grant-funded program Tuesday at a Lawrence County commissioners' meeting.

Mercer and Lawrence counties applied for state Department of Environmental Protection grants to start up the program. About $1 million is available for Lawrence County to buy recycling equipment and $1.3 million is available to build a recycling consolidation center to serve both counties.

Bowser and Hudock said the DEP's grants are bad for their businesses.

"I see them as direct competition with my company," Bowser said. "We've worked hard to build up our business and this will take away my business."

Bowser said his concerns center around the "V-Quip" bin system that the grant agreement calls for.

"It's not cost-efficient to use V-Quip. You can't find parts locally. V-Quip is made in Canada, not the U.S. It's expensive to purchase -- twice the price of the usual system," Bowser said.

Last year Mercer County used DEP grant money to buy V-Quip dropoff bins. The bins, which cost about $800,000, are located at the Shenango Valley Mall and four other sites around the county.

"This whole thing defies logic to me," said Hudock. "I have the capability to provide this service for a lot less."

Bowser and Hudock also questioned the cost of running and maintaining such a system once the grant money is gone.

"V-Quip doesn't guarantee it will pay for itself," Bowser said.

Hudock said his company could come up with a system that would provide four times the traditional dropoff recycling bins as the V-Quip bin system provides for about $500,000.

"The V-Quip system would use up the whole grant and you'd get a lot less material," Hudock said.

Lawrence County commissioners contracted with Mercer County in December to have Mercer County set up the consolidation center. County officials are eyeing a site in Wilmington Township, Mercer County.

If Lawrence County commissioners decide not to buy the V-Quip bins, the system won't be compatible with Mercer County's and the need for a consolidation center would probably disappear, and the $1.3 million grant with it.

Mercer County Commissioner Kenneth Seamans said the county would continue to run its recycling program without the collaboration of Lawrence County.

But he and Don Blakeslee, Mercer County recycling coordinator and administrator of the Mercer County Solid Waste Authority, said part of the reason the grants were approved was that the plan took a regional approach and had the support of both counties.

"They (Lawrence County commissioners) pushed very hard to get it ... Then to turn around and say 'never mind, we're not going to use it,' not based on any solid ideas or solid facts. Well, I don't know," Blakeslee said.

DEP officials said that there wouldn't be any sanctions against either county for not using the full grant. But, a spokeswoman said, the agency would "need a higher level of assurance" when considering future applications. "For example, having contracts signed up front before supplying the grant," she said.

Lawrence County commissioners have until Feb. 28 to make a final decision concerning the grant contract agreements.