Ameren Illinois crews were busy upgrading a transformer and three power poles in the town of Morrisonville to guard against the upcoming summer storm season, to bolster the grid for local residents, and improve reliability of the local church.

The poles that were removed will be recycled as part of Ameren Illinois. In the company's first year of the initiative, it diverted nearly 750 tons of wood waste from being discarded into landfills.

Ameren works with Blackwood Solutions, a recycling company that specializes in repurposing or recycling old or broken power poles for fencing, landscaping or building materials. Customers and nonprofits can still request decommissioned poles from Ameren Illinois to use for parking lot borders and fences.

Ameren recycling numbers for 2023:

    Pounds of material recycled:                    3.6 million
    Trees saved:                                                      4,600
    Cubic yards diverted from landfill:         5,400
    Pounds of CO2 sequestered:                     230,000

For more information, visit Ameren Illinois.