FirstEnergy launches utility pole recycling program

FirstEnergy Corp., based in Akron, Ohio, has launched a utility pole recycling program to repurpose discarded wooden poles and keep them out of landfills.

Under the new Wood Pole Diversion Program, utility poles no longer in used by FirstEnergy’s Ohio utilities—Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Co. or Toledo Edison—will be redistributed to interested parties for direct reuse. Alternative uses for the poles include fencing, parking bollards, guide rail posts, furniture, landscaping or treated wood construction.

"What started as a pilot program in FirstEnergy's Ohio Edison service area is now a reality across the company's entire six-state footprint," says Dave Frederick, director of FirstEnergy's environmental department. "We are committed to reducing waste and improving our recycling efforts, and this is an exciting opportunity for us to adopt a more environmentally friendly practice and find new uses for secondhand utility poles."

When a FirstEnergy pole is retired, utility personnel remove any hardware from the pole and store it at one of its participating service centers. Utility poles, which typically weigh approximately 50 pounds per cubic foot, must be at least 8 feet in length to be part of the reuse program.

When a utility company service center has collected approximately 12 tons of utility poles, the company will work with a transportation and materials management firm to pick them up and distribute them for reuse. According to FirstEnergy, the poles will be delivered “at no cost to interested parties who are willing to accept a full load, can be accessed by tractor-trailer and are located within a certain distance from the collection sites.”

In the past, FirstEnergy says the company’s discarded utility poles had been cut into smaller pieces and stored on site until a waste hauling company took them to a landfill for disposal. Since the trial phase of the new recycling program started in 2020, FirstEnergy has diverted more than 1 million pounds of discarded utility poles from landfills.

In addition to being offered in Ohio, the pole recycling program was recently rolled out by all of FirstEnergy's electric companies in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia. The company predicts the program will reduce its waste stream significantly over time, as most poles weigh between 300 and 4,100 pounds.