The recycling center, historically open seven days per week, will extend weekend hours and shift down to a four-day-per week operation over the summer.

Beginning June 30, the center will be closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, but will more than double its hours of operation on weekends.

The move is one in a series of boroughwide summer workplace initiatives intended to maximize the town's operational efficiency and introduce flexible employee scheduling to curb overtime costs.

Restructuring the recycling center's hours will give employees who had previously worked mid-week at the center -- when use by residents is lightest -- to get out on the road and contribute to recycling collection during what are coincidentally its heaviest days for curbside pickup.

"I’d rather have the men on the road for the customer service and give the residents more of what they’re looking for than have to worry about keeping the recycling center open," Department of Public Works Superintendent Ron Conte explained to council.

In turn, the center's weekend hours -- when use by residents is heaviest -- will jump from just under four hours per day to more than nine hours, so residents looking to drop off yard waste or other recyclable materials won't be confined to such a small window of time.

Transferring more men to perform pickup on the busiest recycling days should also increase worker safety for what is one of the borough's most dangerous jobs, Conte said.

To stave off problems with residents who try to illegally dump waste on days the center is closed, Conte proposed blocking the recylcing center's entrance by placing barricades across the road to impede drivers.

For residents who ignore the barricades and continue to dump illegally -- as has occurred from time to time -- Conte said he and the borough manager had discussed installing cameras around the center to capture evidence of violators, whom, if caught, will be subject to prosecution for dumping.

Although Conte said the new schedule had initially drawn backlash from a couple employees who worried they'd be expected to repeatedly sacrifice their weekends, he said they warmed to the scheduling shift after learning weekend duty would be rotational.

The new recycling hours, whose effectiveness borough manager Tom Metzler said would be carefully monitored, will go into effect June 30 and continue through Sept. 2.

New Recycling Center hours:

• Monday – 7 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.
• Tuesday-Thursday -- CLOSED
• Friday – 7 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
• Saturday – 7 a.m to 4:15 p.m.
• Sunday – 7 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

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