Recycling those bottles

helps keep your water clean DINGMAN — So what happens to all those bottles you carefully separate and recycle? “Over 502,857 - 12- ounce glass bottles, 223 tons, were ground up and turned into glass sand at a recycling facility and used in three glass sand elevated septic sandmounds. These bottles were taken out of the waste stream and recycled into a usable product,” Dingman Sewage Enforcement Officer Chris Wood told the township supervisors Tuesday. These septic mounds were constructed in Dingman Township by Curcio Excavating for LTS Builders. One of the septic mounds used 85 tons of glass sand while the other two used 69 tons each. The glass sand is ground so fine thatit can be handled with bare hands without fear of being cut. Spillage is also not a safety issue. The glass sand is only available in limited quantities which will not put a dent in the sale of sand by quarries for conventional septic sandmounds, Woods said. The glass bottles are being recycled at the Lackawanna Recycling Center in Scranton. A study by Penn State University revealed that 25 percent of homes in Pa. use on-site septic systems which amount to about 1,337,000 homes, said Wood. He went on to say Northeast Pa. has the worst soil for septic systems while Southeastern Pa. has the best soil, “yet has the most septic system failures.” It is a slow time for home building in the township with only 11 new home building permits filed recently, Woods concluded. In other supervisor’s business Tuesday, a conditional use application was approved for Daniel and Annette Nelson of Pocono Mountain Woodland Lakes, who filed in August to operate a home day care business. They must meet with Building Code Enforcement Officer Shawn Bolles to determine if building permits will be required. The approval is also contingent on criminal background checks being done as well as fingerprinting of the Nelsons.