Donna Cooper, director of the Jefferson County Solid 91²Ö¿â Authority, will be retiring at the end of the month. At the meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners, she said she has been serving on the authority for over 26 years. âI guess itâs time to retire,â she said. âItâs been interesting to watch the developments in the recycling and waste industry since 1999. A lot has happened, a lot has improved.â
Cooper said she is âreally proud of the development that has happened with the drop-off recycling program. There were times when we wondered if it would remain sustainable. We did a big leap of faith in 2018 when we bought the first recycling truck. We havenât looked back since; it was probably the best thing we could have done to hold the costs down on the program.â She thanked the commissioners, saying, âWe couldnât have bought the trucks without your help.â
During the meeting Cooper reported on the success of the Glass 4 Good recycling program in 2025, in partnership with Owens-Illinois in Brockway. During the year, 167 tons of glass were collected, equivalent to 357,350 recycled wine bottles, 536,100 food containers and 777,020 beer bottles recycled.