Only five customers at a time are allowed inside the North Elba Recycling Center this week, as the building reopened Tuesday, May 12 after being closed for nearly two months. People need to follow the one-way traffic arrows on the floor and wear masks. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — The town of North Elba’s Recycling Center at the transfer station reopened Tuesday, May 12 after being closed for almost two months.

A reduction in staff, however, means that the center will only be open two days a week for household recycling — Tuesday and Saturday — until Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives the green light to fully staff the transfer station at the end of Recycle Cicle Lane. The hours are 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. It is normally open Monday to Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

“We’re hoping that by next week or even the week after we can be at full strength, so we’re just giving this a trial run,” Transfer Station Supervisor Shannon Porter said Tuesday. She was helping the two employees who were on duty — one at the door letting people inside the building and one inside answering questions and keeping the operation going smoothly.

On Thursday, May 14, Porter said the town would be also opening Wednesdays starting May 20 for commercial businesses only. The same rules apply for businesses as they do for residents.

The town reduced staffing at the transfer station by 50% and closed the Recycling Center on March 18 due to state social distancing mandates amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The North Elba Recycling Center in Lake Placid is seen here Tuesday, May 12, the day it reopened after being closed since mid-March. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“The biggest challenge is not opening at full capacity,” Porter said. “With all these obstacles, it makes it hard for the workers to do their job. And not being able to help out — it’s not supposed to be hands-on with them right now. It’s hard because I want to help everybody.”

The North Elba Recycling Center is popular, mainly because it’s free, and people regularly travel to Lake Placid from communities around the area to drop off their recyclables. Saturdays seem to be the busiest, and Porter is bracing for a surge this coming Saturday. Over the past two months, some people threw their recyclables out with the garbage, but others have saved them in anticipation of the center’s reopening.

“With the amount of stuff we’re seeing, I still anticipate a long line,” Porter said. Fifty people had already used the Recycling Center by noon on Tuesday, she said. “I’m hoping we can get them in and out in a timely fashion.”

When people get to the recycling center, they’ll be met with three signs in front of the building detailing the main rules:

1. Maintain social distance. There is a five-person maximum in the building.

2. Wait at your vehicle until invited inside the building by a town employee at the door. All people must have faces covered by masks.

3. Enter the right-side door. Follow the white arrows on the floor. It is one-way traffic inside the building. Leave using the door on the right.

With all the changes, Porter stressed one thing: “Please be patient. This is new to all of us.”

In his weekly COVID-19 update on Sunday, town Supervisor Jay Rand announced the reopening of the recycling center as a “positive note.”

“Thank you for your anticipated patience and understanding and kudos to staff members for their efforts and planning in getting things back up and running,” Rand wrote.

On Friday, the town shared on its Facebook page a link to a three-minute YouTube video with town Councilor Emily Kilburn Politi explaining the reopening of the recycling center. Speaking from a table in her home, she offered one helpful tip before heading to the center: Pre-sort recyclables.

“You’re going to be more efficient and more time effective if you have everything ready to go when you enter the building,” Politi said.

After arriving at the center with a face covering, she asked the town employee from her car whether she was OK to go inside.

“You’re good to come in,” the employee said.

She sanitized her hands, grabbed the recyclables — pre-sorted in paper bags — and entered the right-side door. After dropping off her recyclables, she stopped for the camera inside the building.

“I’ll take these bags home, reuse them for the next time, and I’m all set to go,” Politi said.

Materials accepted by the North Elba Recycling Center include metal (tin cans, aluminum cans, foil and pans), rinsed and free of food residue; plastic of No. 1 through 7 variety, rinsed and free of food residue; newspaper, magazines and catalogs; junk mail, soft-cover books and office paper (no tissue paper or gift wrap paper); cardboard (no wax coated, such as milk or juice cartons); brown paper grocery bags go in cardboard; books and publications (no hard-cover); cereal and food boxes (not wax coated); and plastic and glass redeemable beer and soda bottles. Non-redeemable glass bottles are not being accepted.

Get the full list at the town of North Elba’s website, www.northelba.org, or call 518-523-2940.

People are being asked to touch as little as possible inside the recycling center and sanitize their hands on the way in and the way out. An employee at the door is handing out free 2-ounce bottles of NYS Clean hand sanitizer.