Coplay Council President Louis Bodish wants the borough to look at improving its recycling rate.

“We only have 21 percent of residents involved in the program,” he said at council’s workshop meeting April 5.

As Councilman Charles Sodl pointed out, only one in five residents recycles waste products.

“Almost everything put out in the regular pickup can be recycled,” Sodl said. “Just getting four residents out of 10 to participate will save us around $10,000 a year.”

Bodish supported the claim.

“The cost of solid waste disposal keeps going up a lot faster than for recycled products … Landfills are costly to operate. If we keep at the same level as we have now, we are going to need to ask for an increase in our garbage collection rates. Everyone complains about the price increases, and recycling is a way every resident can control the costs,” he said.

Councilman Mark Molitoris suggested more awareness on the value and benefits of recycling.

“We need to get more posters and brochures out to everyone,” he said.

In other business, council received bids for repaving Front Street. The low bidder was almost $100,000 higher than the projected cost. The borough is paving Front Street from Chestnut Street north to Keystone Alley. A sewer reconstruction project managed by Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority will pave Front Street south toward Hokendauqua. Daniel Witczak, the borough’s engineer, will review the bids.

According to Police Chief Vincent Genovese, the police force is down two part-time officers. He is recommending that the borough hire Ryan Emerich.

“We need to have someone that is trained and with some experience. We have a small borough, and we don’t have the ability to train someone that is fresh out of the police academy,” he said.

At its regular meeting held Tuesday, council was expected to vote on the sale of borough-owned property adjacent to the municipal building at 38 S. Fourth St. Councilman David Royer noted in his update to council that no bids were received to date, and no one showed up at the recent open house.

Public works Director Paul Boyle reported that yard waste pickup has started. He also announced that street sweeping will be May 11 and 12.

“We will post the list of streets and the days they will be cleaned on the borough’s website,” he said.

Boyle set the date for tire recycling as May 7 at the new Bridge Street location.

Council discussed a request from Milander’s Market for parking across from the store. The market has 15-minute parking in front of the store. The owner would like designated parking across from the store so customers can have a place no matter which direction they are traveling. Genovese was reluctant to give approval.

“We generally allow parking in front of the business. I think we will set a precedent if we start reserving space across the street from businesses,” he said.

The matter was also expected to be up for a vote at Tuesday’s session.