Realizing it was in violation of a county ordinance, Vogel Disposal Service will reinstate its recycling program in early March — just a month after stopping collection.

In mid-January, Vogel Disposal sent out a letter to customers in Donegal, Oakland and Concord townships and Chicora announcing it was discontinuing recycling pickup as of Jan. 20.

But on Feb. 10, the company sent another letter noting that a Butler County Municipal Waste Management Ordinance requires customers be provided with a container for disposal of recyclable materials with their waste removal service. The service will resume the week of March 2.

“A Butler County ordinance was brought to my attention that all the waste haulers must provide for curbside recycling collection,” said Doug Vogel, vice president of Vogel Disposal.

The company had previously said it was canceling service due to low participation rates. Vogel said last month that the company began offering the service five years ago, and it only garnered a 25 percent participation rate.

Vogel Disposal discontinued the service last month because the amount of recyclables collected in the four municipalities didn’t justify the labor and fuel expenses involved in the effort. Vogel said he was unsure if recent attention to the matter following the cancellation would lead to more people being interested in taking part in the recycling program. “We’ve sent letters to all of our customers stating that service is available with the hopes that more people would take advantage of that,” he said. Vogel said the service will be reinstated every other week — which was the previous rate of pickup — and residents will be provided with the same 95-gallon recycling bin they previously used. Kandi Nassy, chairwoman of Concord Township’s board of supervisors, said she was glad to hear the recycling program was reinstated. “I think it’s great,” she said. “I had heard from quite a few residents that they were losing (recycling) and they weren’t notified. They didn’t have an opportunity to fight it.” She said the township got a little bit of revenue from the program, but could have lost a fair amount of money due to the program being discontinued. “We purchased the recycling bins for our residents, and we would have had a bunch of recycling bins that weren’t being used.”

Residents in need of a new recycling bin — which are also offered in 35-gallon and 65-gallon sizes — can call Vogel Disposal at 724-625-1511, option 1.