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PITTSBURG —
Chuck Delp has seen a lot of changes in the public attitude toward recycling in the past 12 years, and played a big role in many of them.
He has been the face and voice of the cause, the person most frequently contacted by local media when public comment was needed on what to do with all that Christmas wrapping paper or burned out computers.
That will be changing. Delp, operations director of the Southeast Kansas Recycling Center, will be stepping down from his post at the end of July.
“It’s one of those things that I’m sad when I think about it, but it’s the next step in my life,” he said.
It’s not a choice Delp wanted to make, but one made necessary by a back injury he suffered when he was run over a few years ago.
Still, he can look back with some satisfaction and with great pride at how the SEK Recycling Center has grown.
“When I started this 12 years ago, those of us who did this were often lumped in with bunny huggers and those other radical people,” Delp said. “Now we have a bigger cross-section of the Pittsburg population recycling. You’ll see new Lincolns and rusted-out Yugos lined up here to bring stuff in.”
He’s pleased that local businesses are now seeing that the recycling center is a viable option for their waste products.
“Recycling is even a cost reduction for some businesses,” Delp said. “For so many years waste disposal was just built into the budget and nobody thought about it.”
He said that he has also been excited to watch Pittsburg State University start 11 recycling programs.
“One of them took hold, and now PSU has an active, growing program on campus,” Delp said. “I do not see them ever going backwards.”
When the center started, it was located at West Fourth and the US 69 Bypass.
“We were in a building with a leaking roof and no walls,” Delp said. “When it rained we watched it rain inside, and when it snowed, we watched snow blow through the building. From that we moved to a brand new facility, only to see it catch fire and burn six weeks later, so we had to start all over again.”
The center was rebuilt, and then entered a period of what he calls a no-holds-barred expansion.
Chuck Delp has seen a lot of changes in the public attitude toward recycling in the past 12 years, and played a big role in many of them.
He has been the face and voice of the cause, the person most frequently contacted by local media when public comment was needed on what to do with all that Christmas wrapping paper or burned out computers.
That will be changing. Delp, operations director of the Southeast Kansas Recycling Center, will be stepping down from his post at the end of July.
“It’s one of those things that I’m sad when I think about it, but it’s the next step in my life,” he said.
It’s not a choice Delp wanted to make, but one made necessary by a back injury he suffered when he was run over a few years ago.
Still, he can look back with some satisfaction and with great pride at how the SEK Recycling Center has grown.
“When I started this 12 years ago, those of us who did this were often lumped in with bunny huggers and those other radical people,” Delp said. “Now we have a bigger cross-section of the Pittsburg population recycling. You’ll see new Lincolns and rusted-out Yugos lined up here to bring stuff in.”
He’s pleased that local businesses are now seeing that the recycling center is a viable option for their waste products.
“Recycling is even a cost reduction for some businesses,” Delp said. “For so many years waste disposal was just built into the budget and nobody thought about it.”
He said that he has also been excited to watch Pittsburg State University start 11 recycling programs.
“One of them took hold, and now PSU has an active, growing program on campus,” Delp said. “I do not see them ever going backwards.”
When the center started, it was located at West Fourth and the US 69 Bypass.
“We were in a building with a leaking roof and no walls,” Delp said. “When it rained we watched it rain inside, and when it snowed, we watched snow blow through the building. From that we moved to a brand new facility, only to see it catch fire and burn six weeks later, so we had to start all over again.”
The center was rebuilt, and then entered a period of what he calls a no-holds-barred expansion.
“We built on in every direction we could, then bought out the neighbors twice,” Delp said.
He is especially proud of the diversity of materials recycled by the SEK center.
“With the variety of things we recycle, we are probably the most diversified recycling center in Kansas,” Delp said. “We take things most people wouldn’t even think about taking.”
That includes the traditional newsprint, other paper and cardboard, clothing, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, glass, household cleaning products, batteries, used motor and cooking oils, mercury thermostats and thermometers, pool chemicals, paint and paint thinner, pest control products and numerous other hazardous items, as well as huge amounts of e-waste.
“One of the things I’ve liked about my job is that it’s a constant challenge,” Delp said. “You don’t have time to get bored.”
He added that the center’s board of directors has been very supportive.
“Every time I’ve wanted to do something new, they’ve usually told me, ‘Just try not to lose too much money’,” Delp said.
Now the board is in the process of having to find a new operations director.
“I’ll work two days a week as special projects director, but I won’t be doing the daily operations of the center,” Delp said. “I’ll probably try to find more things to recycle, more homes for things, and find more things we can divert.”
He’ll also have more time to indulge his love of reading at the house he built himself from recycled materials. It’s located on reclaimed strip pit land.
“I really do try to live what I do,” Delp said. “I hope I’ve made a positive change.”
