CHESTER - Except for the asbestos, most of the building materials being removed from the old Taylor, Smith & Taylor pottery site will be recycled in some way, officials say.
Workers from Six Recycling in East Liverpool have been removing materials from the site since May. Until now, priority has gone to asbestos-containing materials - 254 loads of which have been hauled away since demolition began.
"Ninety-five percent of the asbestos is gone," said Marvin Six, assistant director of the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle, which owns the 8-acre property.
What asbestos remains is contained in roofing materials, which also is being taken to a certified landfill.
That leaves piles of bricks, steel beams, concrete, sandstone and wood beams for workers to separate and remove.
"Instead of hauling it to a landfill, we want to recycle it," said Frank Six, co-owner of Six Recycling. "We're going to segregate everything. It's a very lengthy process, but we're getting it done."
All that's left to be demolished is the concrete foundation and the seven 70-foot silos, Frank Six said.
The foundation will be broken up and prepared for use as backfill. The silos, made of concrete and rebar, must first be emptied of powder clay that was used in the pottery-making process.
"If someone can get that clay and reuse it, that's what we'd like to see," Frank Six said.
One silo is about half full with the clay, and two are about a third full.
Once the silos are empty, they'll have a date with the wrecking ball.
Officials are looking for a steel mill that will take the steel beams as scrap. The wooden beams will be hauled to a landfill, unless other uses can be found for them, Frank Six said.
Other than the concrete, the material that has the most potential for recycling purposes is the brick, Marvin Six said. It can be crushed and used as backfill, used for the construction of walkway surfaces or used as riprap along the riverbank.
The latter, Six explained, is material that is to used to prevent erosion on, or otherwise reinforce, a riverbank. The BDC has a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it will use to clean the riverbank of lead, traces of which have been found in the soil.
Probably the most visible example of recycling at the TS&T site is the old smokestack. Workers removed a portion of the 135-foot chimney - "brick by brick" - a couple weeks ago, leaving a 50-foot section that is "structurally sound," Marvin Six said.
That section will be retained and incorporated, if possible, into the design of the future site plan, he said.
"We felt we'd be better off to keep it," Six said.
