Recycling was on the agenda at the June meeting of the Walker Township Board of Supervisors; or rather, the lack of it.

“The haulers in our area, as of April 1, are mandated to provide at least once-a-month recycling curbside pickup,” township Secretary Ann Ostergaard said.

“The haulers that we have in our township, mainly Jones Sanitation, isn’t providing it, and residents are calling them and asking them. They’re telling them (the residents) they are not going to be providing recycling services, even though they are mandated by the county to provide it,” she said.

“I then called County Waste, who also provides some trash pickup in Walker Township and asked them if they were providing any recycling pickup here and they said no, and they do not have plans right now to begin offering it. Jones will take the recycling, but it just gets thrown out with the regular garbage.”

County solicitor Chris Rieding said that Schuylkill County passed the ordinance that went into effect April 1, mandating a recycling pickup.

“The county ordinance requires you to get a permit in the county,” he said, “and they’re not going to give you a permit, or they’re going to rescind your permit if they find you are not picking up curbside recycling at least once a month. So it sounds to me like some of the haulers are challenging the authority of the county.”

Walker Township does not have a contracted hauler for the township, and will consider that as a possibility.

The supervisors did not take any action on the issue at this time.