STODDARD COUNTY SHELTERED WORKSHOP SAVES TONS FROM LANDFILL

DEXTER -- Recycle. Recycle. Recycle.

The message must be making an impact in the area, because tons of solid waste is being recycled each year in Stoddard County.

Over the past two years the Stoddard County Sheltered Workshop has kept 800 tons of solid waste out of landfills, Jim LaBrot, workshop manager, said.

The workshop recycles cardboard, plastics and aluminum and is the largest recycler in the area.

LaBrot said the workshop has trailers in different areas that store the waste until it is picked up by one of the workshop trucks. Trailers are located in Dexter at the Wallace and Owens grocery store lot, the Save-A-Lot parking lot, on the lot in front of Overturf Drugs and the fourth is on the Wal-Mart parking lot.

He said the trucks make daily stops and bring the waste back to the workshop building to be sorted, processed and baled.

Workers recycle newspaper, cardboard and different types of plastics to be shipped and sold to different businesses, LaBrot added. Milk jugs are ground at the Dexter site for recycling; soft drink bottles are bundled.

The workshop is headed toward being the region's largest recycling center. The county facility currently serves a number of communities throughout Southeast Missouri.

LaBrot said he hopes the workshop will be cover more than Stoddard County, and parts of Mississippi and Dunklin Counties.

The workshop is on its third year with the program and has gotten better each year, he said. The move toward recycling has been a good development for the workshop.

"It is a learning and growing process," LaBrot said. "Just like everything else, we make mistakes but we learn from them."

The workshop has about 15 full-time employees in charge of recycling. All together it employs about 50 workers.

The workshop is supported through a county tax, additional programs, and from the work contracts received at the center. The workers are unique in that they must be at least 18 years old and have a disability, LaBrot said.

Jobs are assigned according to the individual's abilities.

Some workers package and sort items, and others have cleaning responsibilities.

"They do everything a factory line worker would do, but it is broken down into four or five parts," LaBrot said. "We make four jobs out of one."

Workers do jobs for different companies who need a variety of duties done.

LaBrot said some of the major business who receive help from the workshop include: Consolidated Plastics in Bloomfield, Dewitt in Sikeston, Federal Mogul in Malden and US Poly Enterprises in Dexter.

He said Federal Mogul has the workshop workers package lock rings. Workers much pack the same number of rings in each package.

LaBrot said some of the workers cannot count quickly so he has a piece of cardboard marked with the number of items that go in each package. He said all the workers have to do is fill up the board to get the correct number in each package.

"If they had to count it, it would take all day," LaBrot said.

In addition, an inspector checks on each worker.

He said Federal Mogul has done business with the workshop so long and has seen the accuracy of the work that Federal Mogul rarely checks the packages anymore.

LaBrot said the work is not a donation by a company. He added the company gets a good product in return for the work.

LaBrot added that the workshop is not a job preparation service. "Our first priority is to provide jobs, not placement," he added.

LaBrot said the workshop provides a job that is meaningful to the employees. He said if the work was not done by the workshop it would have to be done by the competitive labor market.

LaBrot commented that the workers have a good attitude and are good workers once they get the hang of a job.

"They always show what they are doing to a visitor like a family member," LaBrot said. "They are proud that they can work. They are a good bunch of folks."