By CRAIG FREILICH

St. Lawrence County residents appear to be throwing less stuff away.

The amount of municipal solid waste declined by about 13.3 percent from 2010 to 2014, but recycling has dropped even faster -- by 16.5 percent from 2010 to 2013, according to a recent report.

Recycling handled by municipal collections and private haulers in the county declined from 9,306 tons in 2010 to 7,770 tons in 2013, states “Regional Recycling Alternatives Analysis,” prepared by Cornerstone Environmental Group for the Development Authority of the North Country and published in February.

“We would like to see solid waste going down and recycling going up,” said Larry Legault, Recycling Coordinator and Operations Manager for the St. Lawrence County Solid Waste Department.

However, Legault cautioned the figures may not completely reflect recycling activity in St. Lawrence County. “Tracking of recycling is not as accurate as we would like,” he said.

Cornerstone compiled the report using several sources, such as annual reports from landfills and transfer stations, as well as from reports prepared for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

In 2010, the amount of municipal solid waste amounted to 65,687 tons, 62,238 tons in 2011, 57,687 tons in 2012, 56,915 tons in 2013, and 56,808 tons in 2014.

The report showed 9,306 tons of material sent for recycling in 2010, 8,270 tons in 2011, 7,940 tons in 2012, and 7,770 tons in 2013.

The report says things like scrap metal, wood and yard waste are not counted as “diverted” for recycling “since these materials are not completely captured on the Annual Transfer Stations reports.”

It also notes that “there are several colleges and universities enrolling over 10,000 students both on and off campus several of which have their own recycling and re-use initiatives” that would not be captured in the data.

“And big-box stores such as Walmart and Lowe’s back-haul all their recycling,” taking trucks that have just unloaded store merchandise and filling them with cardboard and other materials from the store for recycling by the company, Legault said. “If we could capture that data I think we would see it rising instead of backing down a bit,” Legault said.

However, data from “big box stores” was not included in any of the years reported, so including that recycling would not affect the overall downward trend in St. Lawrence County.

There is less of a problem tracking the solid waste tonnage, Legault said, “since all of that must be handled locally” as part of the county’s relatively new flow control policy. “All of the trash generated in St. Lawrence County goes to the Rodman Landfill” in Jefferson County, he said.