County S Recycling

"KIDS CAN really make a difference in the community," says Betsy McMillion, coordinator of Howard County's recycling education program.Last Wednesday, students from west Columbia schools were honored for their contributions to recycling at a ceremony at the Howard Building in Ellicott City.The event was sponsored by the Recycling Division of the county's Bureau of Waste Management.Atholton High School senior Hei Cissy Ng was recognized for her efforts to increase recycling in her neighborhood.

Though the county has reached the point where it can collect recyclable paper, cans and most bottles from all county homes, not everyone has -- or wants -- the free service.A lack of enthusiasm among a few apartment managers and condominium associations to accept the popular free service has left some residents without a benefit that most others in the county now enjoy."I'm a little distraught that we were never asked," said Sally Yasenka, who has lived for five years in a townhouse in Glen Meadows Condominiums in Columbia's Town Center, one of 13 complexes around the county that have refused the recycling pickup.

At one time, recycling was something that took some effort, a sign of how much one cared about the environment.Those days are fading in Howard County, and with them will go "Sort with MoRT," the county's Mobile Recycling Truck.On June 30, the beige MoRT truck that has come to symbolize the county's recycling program will be retired after six years of service, now that recycling has become as ordinary and as easy as putting out the trash.All of the county's houses now get free curbside recycling pickup from the county.

Blue BagsOn Jan. 11 The Sun published a letter to the editor from Carl Aron of Catonsville asking why participants in the county's recycling program must set out their bottles and cans in blue plastic bags rather than bins.The main reason for requiring plastic bags is that the bags cushion bottles and cans as they are trucked to the sorting facility, thus minimizing broken glass jars and bottles.The current demand for broken glass of mixed colors is weak, and most of that material is not recycled.

Howard County has exceeded expectations in meeting this year's state-mandated recycling goal, finding new uses for more than a quarter of the county's trash.The 1988 Maryland Recycling Act requires that counties with more than 150,000 people recycle at least 20 percent of their waste or be subject to a building moratorium.In the last half of 1993, nearly 26 percent of the county's waste was recycled, thanks in large part to an experimental trash-composting plant in Baltimore and beginning curbside collection for the last 20,000 county homes without the service, said Linda Fields, the county's recycling chief.

Business at Carroll County's recycling center plunged when the center moved from an old barn on Route 97 north of Westminster to the Northern Landfill at Reese in October. Since September, the tonnage of recycled materials has dropped more than half.But the drop didn't cause even a small dip in the reported percentage of rubbish that county residents and businesses recycle. The county's year-end recycling report for 1993 shows that tons of yard waste diverted from the landfill in October and November more than made up for reduced collections from the recycling barn.

It is unfortunate that a few thoughtless souls decided to dump large amounts of garbage and refuse in Carroll County's recycling bins. Since this trash "contaminates" the recyclable glass, metal and paper, Phoenix Recycling has been regularly rejecting deliveries. The contents of these bins had to be dumped in the landfill. To solve this problem, the commissioners are removing 14 of these large bins from locations around the county.The absence of these receptacles may make it more difficult for some people to recycle their newspapers, glass bottles, plastic and aluminum cans, but the commissioners had little choice.

Carroll residents wouldn't be allowed to put their grass clippings and leaves into landfill-bound garbage under a proposed ordinance change supported by a majority of the county commissioners.But the commissioners say they will rely on voluntary compliance rather than try to enforce the requirement that yard waste be placed in the mulching area at the northern landfill in Reese and kept out of the cells where refuse is buried.The county uses the mulched material in gardening and offers it free to anyone interested.

Carroll commissioners say they may have to make "some legal adjustments" to the county's recycling contract with Waste Management.The commissioners said Monday that the company has been reporting the number of recyclables collected from county residents, but has not been reporting where the recyclables go once they are separated.Commissioner Donald I. Dell said he didn't want Waste Management, which operates a processing facility for recyclables in Finksburg, to involve the county in any violation of a state law that mandates recycling.

Recycling glass, plastic and newspapers will remain voluntary in Carroll -- for now -- but the county commissioners yesterday set the stage to move swiftly to mandatory recycling.The commissioners directed their staff to draft an ordinance that would allow them to enact mandatory recycling by resolution, without the usual advertising and public hearing.However, the commissioners will be required to advertise and hold a public hearing on the proposed enacting ordinance, county officials said.

Baltimore County expects to launch single-stream recycling early next year, and officials hope that allowing residents to mix their paper, bottles and cans in the same containers will encourage greater participation in the curbside collection program. The county, which already has the highest recycling rate in the state, hopes to start the new system Feb. 1. It already is in place in Baltimore City and Howard and Anne Arundel counties. While ease of collection is the main incentive, Baltimore County officials think the cost savings also will prove appealing to the county's 240,000 households.

In September, Howard County got an average of $74 a ton for the recyclable household trash that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill. Two months later, the county got nothing. Even as Howard County and other Baltimore-area governments work to encourage residents to recycle, they are seeing a sharp drop in the cash they get for scrap paper, plastic and metal. The bottom line is less money for governments searching for every spare nickel as revenue from other sources drops. "We're not getting paid," said Evelyn Tomlin, Howard County's recycling chief.

The Baltimore County Council unanimously adopted a 10-year solid-waste management plan last night that included several recommendations aimed at fostering recycling. The result of a lengthy public participation process, the plan is like "a menu that we can work off of in the next 10 years," said Charles M. Reighart, the county's recycling and waste-prevention manager. The plan suggests transitioning to single-stream recycling for single-family homes and townhouses; creating economic incentives to encourage owners of apartments and condominiums to provide recycling opportunities to residents; and minimizing waste sent to landfills.

Anne Arundel County is expanding its recycling program to include several more plastics, papers and metals, as part of a larger effort to encourage residents to recycle half of what they dispose. Among the items now eligible for curbside recycling service are: plastic bags, plastic cups, plastic plates and plastic utensils, paper milk and juice cartons, and aluminum foil and pans. "There's no additional cost," said Richard Bowen, the solid waste recycling manager for Anne Arundel's Department of Public Works.

In Baltimore City Council delays vote on plan to change Board of Estimates The City Council opted not to vote last night on a plan to wrest Baltimore's Board of Estimates from the mayor's control, sending the bill back to committee instead. The bill calls for eliminating two mayoral appointees from the five-member board - the city solicitor and public works director. That would leave three elected officials, the mayor, council president and comptroller. Even with council approval, the plan would have to survive a likely mayoral veto and win approval from voters as a ballot question.

"KIDS CAN really make a difference in the community," says Betsy McMillion, coordinator of Howard County's recycling education program.Last Wednesday, students from west Columbia schools were honored for their contributions to recycling at a ceremony at the Howard Building in Ellicott City.The event was sponsored by the Recycling Division of the county's Bureau of Waste Management.Atholton High School senior Hei Cissy Ng was recognized for her efforts to increase recycling in her neighborhood.

Though the county has reached the point where it can collect recyclable paper, cans and most bottles from all county homes, not everyone has -- or wants -- the free service.A lack of enthusiasm among a few apartment managers and condominium associations to accept the popular free service has left some residents without a benefit that most others in the county now enjoy."I'm a little distraught that we were never asked," said Sally Yasenka, who has lived for five years in a townhouse in Glen Meadows Condominiums in Columbia's Town Center, one of 13 complexes around the county that have refused the recycling pickup.

At one time, recycling was something that took some effort, a sign of how much one cared about the environment.Those days are fading in Howard County, and with them will go "Sort with MoRT," the county's Mobile Recycling Truck.On June 30, the beige MoRT truck that has come to symbolize the county's recycling program will be retired after six years of service, now that recycling has become as ordinary and as easy as putting out the trash.All of the county's houses now get free curbside recycling pickup from the county.

Blue BagsOn Jan. 11 The Sun published a letter to the editor from Carl Aron of Catonsville asking why participants in the county's recycling program must set out their bottles and cans in blue plastic bags rather than bins.The main reason for requiring plastic bags is that the bags cushion bottles and cans as they are trucked to the sorting facility, thus minimizing broken glass jars and bottles.The current demand for broken glass of mixed colors is weak, and most of that material is not recycled.

Howard County has exceeded expectations in meeting this year's state-mandated recycling goal, finding new uses for more than a quarter of the county's trash.The 1988 Maryland Recycling Act requires that counties with more than 150,000 people recycle at least 20 percent of their waste or be subject to a building moratorium.In the last half of 1993, nearly 26 percent of the county's waste was recycled, thanks in large part to an experimental trash-composting plant in Baltimore and beginning curbside collection for the last 20,000 county homes without the service, said Linda Fields, the county's recycling chief.