To some people, yesterday's newspapers are just old news. But old newspapers serve an important function for area farmers and can be an important source of income.

Capitalizing on a grant from Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Mercer County Department of Solid Waste, the Good Shepherd Center in Greenville has opened a new newspaper recycling program, said center director Susan Franklin.

Ms. Franklin said the center took over the grant program from the organization in New Castle because it saw a way to fill a need in the community while providing a few new jobs for area residents.

"Farmers in the area use the recycled newspapers to bed their livestock," she said. "And when the New Castle agency decided not to continue with the program, we decided to step in to keep it going."

The grant program, a roll-over from an organization in New Castle, provides a baler, shredder and forklift for the center to get its recycling program off the ground.

Ms. Franklin said private donors gave the center the use of a building in downtown Greenville to house the equipment and serve as the recycling center. Workers at the recycling program have already hit the job, shredding old newspapers, packing the shreds into bales and shipping the bales out to where they are needed.

Each bale costs $1.50, Ms. Franklin said, and farmers use up to 20 tons of it a week. In the summer, area gardeners use the bales for fertilizer, as well, she said.

The equipment is in place, the workers are hired, and the need for the product is definitely there, Ms. Franklin said, but there is still one small problem.

Getting the amount of newspapers needed to keep the program going is a major challenge, she said.

The Good Shepherd Center has contacted area schools, organizations and businesses, asking for their old newspapers. Private citizens can donate their old papers too, Ms. Franklin said, by bagging or bundling the old papers and dropping them off in special bins, located at the Good Shepherd Center on Main Street or at the recycling plant at 29 S. Water St.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com