Local businessman donates funds to reopen recycling center

Ogdensburg — Closed for nearly four months, the Ogdensburg drop-off recycling center is now up and running. A recent donation from a borough business helped fund the center’s reopening. Samuel Burlam, owner and operator of Extreme Energy Solutions, donated $1,600 to reopen the center. That money will pay to keep the recycling center open from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday, and it will pay for the services at the site of Matthew Wesolowski, an Ogdensburg senior citizen who had been manning the center for more than 10 years. According to Ogdensburg Councilman Michael Blahut, he and Burlam sat down to see just what it cost the borough to run the site. Burlam’s donation will cover the costs until the fall. Wesolowski is paid $14 an hour. Keeping it going Burlam said that once his initial donation runs out, he will arrange a program to help fund the recycling center’s operations until January 2011. Additionally, he said he plans to set up a grant program in which his company will make a donation to the borough every six months. “Until the town has reorganized its business and can take care of the recycling center on its own, the grant will go toward that,” he said. For Burlam, reopening the recycling drop-off center was important to him on several levels. Since his business is a “green” company — specializing in products that will lower emissions and fuel costs for vehicles — he said that keeping the recycling center open is important to him. He has missed the convenience of having the center in town. And, Burlam cited the value of being able to give someone their job back. “You had someone who was a longtime employee [lose their job],” he said. “I’m about bringing jobs and making sustainable living for people.”