DECATUR - Recycling aluminum cans has paid for new tables and chairs in the dining room of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter House in Decatur, as well as a flat-screen TV for the bar.

That's because Mark York, commander of Chapter 17, has been taking cans to Dove Inc.'s recycling center downtown for the past year and a half. "It's a big reward for a small effort," York said.

Come next week, however, York will have a second collection site to choose from as the agency's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program partners with Macon Resources Inc. for an expanded recycling program that will accept more items, make more pickups and possibly provide job training opportunities down the road for clients of both agencies.

"I could go either direction, so that's terrific," York said. "It's a win-win situation for everybody."

To be launched by the opening of a collection site Monday at Macon Resources, the partnership between the two social service agencies grew out of the volunteer program's search for a new location.

The Decatur School District had allowed volunteers to use its building at 130 W. Cerro Gordo St. free of charge ever since the recycling center opened in 1984, but last year, the district notified Dove that it would like to use the property for additional parking.

"Macon Resources was already doing some recycling, too, and had gotten a baler that can bale all kinds of materials," said Ray Batman, executive director of Dove. "So it seemed like a great opportunity for both organizations to get together and get even more accomplished."

Dreux Lewandowski, executive director of Macon Resources, saw things the same way. "I was intrigued by the idea and thought it would be a natural fit," he said.

The partnership also allows both centers to begin accepting donations of plastic, tin and cardboard, in addition to paying for aluminum.

The new collection site will share space on the east side of the Macon Resources building in the receiving area for Jan-Pro, the agency's janitorial and lawn care business, with an open house planned there for Jan. 30 and 31.

The partnership also plans to find another location for its downtown collection site and add to the pickup routes each agency had already developed, with many customers simply donating their aluminum.

The agencies also want to expand their recycling program to the point where they can offer their clients jobs to prepare them for other employment. "Down the line we have some great hopes," said Joan Meeder, director of Dove's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

Dove operates a domestic violence shelter and is the lead agency for Homeward Bound, a program working to put homeless people into permanent housing.

Macon Resources, meanwhile, serves people with developmental disabilities and their families. The point person for the community recycling program there is Rich Hamilton, coordinator of shipping and receiving.

Both agencies credit support they have received from the Macon County Solid Waste Department, which provided funding for Macon Resources' baler and containers for the volunteer program.

"This is a partnership I'm excited about," said Deb Garrett, the department's environmental educator. "They're poised to take some great steps forward."

As the result of a conversation at The Decanter Fine Wines last month between co-owner Jay Emrich and Lewandowski, that business already has had one load of cardboard picked up by a truck from Macon Resources that came downtown to pick up recyclables at Macon Ice Cream, another business operated by the agency.

Emrich said that before this, he and the other two owners had been loading up their cars once a month to take cardboard to another recycling center.

"It wasn't such a terrible imposition, because we want to do what we can to protect the environment," Emrich said. "But now it's just one less thing we have to worry about."

tchurchill@herald-review.com|421-7978