DANVILLE — The WITS recycling center has stopped accepting household recycling materials now that the city's code enforcement department shut down that part of the non-profit organization's operation last week due to health and safety code violations.

On Tuesday, city inspectors visited the WITS site at 1507 N. Bowman Ave. in the former Eagles grocery building and found code violations that include no functioning sprinkler system, no hot water in the rest rooms, some electrical issues, inadequate fire extinguishers, inadequate emergency lights and no alarm to notify the fire department of a fire, according to John Heckler, director of public development for the city.

Heckler said WITS also did not have a certificate of occupancy to be operating in that building, and for all those reasons, the city shut down the household recycling portion of the operation which is housed in that building. Although the bins where people drop off the materials are outside, the material is taken inside and sorted there.

Heckler said he and inspectors initially made a site visit at WITS last week, because the bins where recyclables are dropped off in front of the building were overflowing and "a bit of a mess." He said the city also received an anonymous call that the organization did not have working rest rooms, but inspectors found that to be untrue.

WITS is a non-profit organization started by Angela Haas in St. Louis to recycle computers. She expanded to Danville several years ago, and Wes Burress donated two buildings to WITS, one at 1017 Griggs St. and the former Eagles grocery building at 1507 N. Bowman Ave.

Initially, WITS operated at the Griggs Street location but eventually moved to the Bowman Avenue site. And, since Vermilion County dropped its countywide recycling program a few years ago, WITS expanded its mission into household recyclables, including paper, plastic, paperboard and most recently glass and tin.

Haas said she didn't really want to make that leap, but because there was a need in the area, they decided to do it. She said it was not profitable, and actually has been costing the business about $200-$400 a month, but with some recent changes, including the introduction of glass, they were on the precipice of breaking even on the household recycling side of the operation. And, Haas said, expanding into household items did boost the computer and electronics side of the business, too.

But according to Heckler, WITS was originally granted a certificate of occupancy by the city in 2004 for only one portion of the Bowman Avenue site, a smaller space on the south side of the former Eagle grocery store that, most recently, housed a package liquor store.

Heckler said when a building has been vacant for more than a year, a certificate of occupancy is required, ensuring that the building is inspected and up to code before it's occupied again. A certificate was granted to WITS for the smaller space for its computer recycling operation, Heckler said, but to his knowledge WITS never applied for a certificate of occupancy for the much larger former Eagles store space.

WITS has been using the former Eagles space for five years now, said Haas, who added that there's never been a concern in the past about a non-functioning sprinkler system or health or safety code violations. She said there have been no incidents at the location in those five years.

But Heckler said "we were not aware that they were occupying the (former Eagle store) building."

Trina Bailey, regional manager for WITS, said the organization could handle the smaller code violations, but requiring an operational sprinkler system is incredibly expensive.

"That sprinkler system is going to kill us, and we're not sure how we're going to come up with the funds," said Bailey, who added that it's a nonprofit organization that barely makes enough money to cover costs. Bailey said estimates for a sprinkler system have been $125,000-$200,000. Although they are compliant in the smaller portion of the building, Bailey and Haas said it's not enough space to handle the household part of the operation, only the computer portion.

Bailey said just in 2010, WITS received about 200 tons of household recycling material, and that's too much to handle in a small space.

Heckler said building code states that if there is an existing sprinkler system — which the former grocery has — then it must be operational. He said the city realizes it's a costly item, and the city was asked if the requirement could be waived. But both Heckler and his department and the fire department refused.

"We cannot waive an ordinance that could possibly endanger the health and safety of employees and possibly fire personnel," Heckler said.

In addition to WITS staff, the organization also had workers from the Illinois Department of Human Services who must do volunteer work, if they don't have a job, to continue receiving their benefits. WITS was utilizing about 15-20 of those workers per day, Haas said, and now will have to reduce that number to five.

Heckler said the city told Haas that she and Bailey and actual WITS staff could continue working in the building that's in violation to get it cleared out, but no one else could be involved in that for safety reasons.

WITS has removed the drop-off bins from the front of the building, but people continue dropping off materials where the bins had been. Four people, including Nancy Linn of Oakwood, came during one half hour on Tuesday afternoon to drop off recycling and were told they couldn't. Linn, who was there to drop off paper, plastic and other items, said it's frustrating that WITS has been shut down.

Heckler said the city will continue to work with WITS staff to see if there are any alternatives that would meet city codes.

Haas said she has proposed that staff sort materials outside and putting up a smaller, separate building behind the Bowman Avenue for the temporary storage of the material until it can be shipped.

Heckler said that plan has not been approved or unapproved by the city yet.

"We have to take a look at that, and on all this stuff, we are open to making reasonable accommodations that fit our codes and zoning ordinances," he said.

In the meantime, he said, the organization is totally compliant with its computer recycling operation on the south end of the building, and even with the violations, the city would allow the storage of some of the computer equipment in the bigger portion of the building if no one is working in there.