By Rodney Richey
The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON, Ind. —
On Saturday, the Paramount Theatre is going green.
An Indianapolis group called Disposal Alternatives Organization will be set up on 12th Street, between Meridian Plaza and Main Street, for residents to drop off recyclables, even recyclables they may not realize they have.
“They do industrial dismantling,” said Gayle Jones Burris, managing director of the Paramount. “And they have really neat mission. They train veterans and homeless folks and try to get them jobs. Even though they’re a nonprofit organization, they’re totally self-sustaining with what they do.”
A partial list of what DAO will accept for recycling includes small and large appliances, computers and electronics, televisions, grills, mattresses, cardboard and paper, batteries, cell phones, paint, oil and antifreeze, steel and aluminum, clean plastics, bicycles, lawn equipment, medical equipment, office machines, microwaves, radios, fax machines and VCRs.
Burris said that DAO —which is a member of the Indiana Recycling Coalition and the National Recycling Coalition and is EPA-licensed — will specifically not accept prescription medicines, tires, furniture or clothing.
“They even came and got a couple of truckloads of stuff that had been lying around here,” Burris said. “They’ll inventory it and scrap it out. Then when they sell the scrap, we’ll get a portion of the revenue.”
That’s not the case, of course, for residents who drop off recycling, as DAO will send its profits back into its own programs, which include training veterans and the homeless to tear down various kinds of machines into component parts, as well as repair salvageable appliances to sell at DAO’s resale shop in Indianapolis.
Burris said those dropping off items can drive through the 12th Street set-up, without even getting out of their cars, or call DAO to arrange a time for a pickup at home, if an item is larger than a microwave.
DAO will pick up mattresses but will charge a $20 fee for the first set and $5 for each additional set. Its personnel will also charge a small fee for pickups outside of the Anderson city limits. Residents must specify if they mean for the proceeds to go to the Paramount.
“They do river cleanups and work with other groups,” Burris said, “so we’re lucky they like what we’re doing here and are going to help us out.”
Contact Rodney Richey, 640-4861, rodney.richey@heraldbulletin.com.
