Curbside Collection

The Baltimore County Council approved a recycling plan last night that will mean curbside recycling by July for 55,000 homes, a pilot program to test curbside recycling countywide and an NTC advisory committee to oversee recycling efforts.The plan calls for expanding curbside collection of mixed paper to 21,000 homes by April.The county will expand collection to 55,000 homes by July and offer curbside collection of mixed paper and lawn waste to 155,000 homes -- more than half of the county's 282,000 homes -- by 1994.

Just a reminder for those keen on "green" living that Christmas trees make great mulch.  Residents of Anne Arundel , Baltimore and eastern Howard counties can simply put their trees out for curbside collection in early January with other recyclables. Or, if they prefer (or miss the pickup window), they can take the trees to various drop off locations for grinding up into mulch. Folks living in Harford and western Howard counties can drop off their trees for recycling at local landfills or other sites.  Carroll County has offered the same drop off service in prior years for residents of non-incorporated areas there - town dwellers may also have curbside pickup.  Click on the links above for information about your local jurisdiction, drop off locations, pickup dates and other details.

The recent expansion of Baltimore's curbside recycling program is good news. So is the disclosure that curbside collection of paper will be available in neighborhoods throughout the city by December. All this will cost more money initially. But recycling tends to drastically cut the amount of garbage collected on regular pick-up days. Get into recycling and be amazed how little trash is left when crushable plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass and papers are separated and recycled.

Starting Jan. 3, Baltimore's Department of Public works says it will mulch Christmas trees all month 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Saturday  at the Reedbird Avenue Citizen Drop-off Center, 701 Reedbird Ave. For curbside collection, residents should put out their trees on their regular trash day through Jan. 31, the department says. The city also recycles wrapping paper, tissue paper, holiday cards, boxes and other paper products. For more recycling, click here. Christmas tree mulching in other areas: Baltimore County Howard County Anne Arundel County

Starting Jan. 3, Baltimore's Department of Public works says it will mulch Christmas trees all month 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Saturday  at the Reedbird Avenue Citizen Drop-off Center, 701 Reedbird Ave. For curbside collection, residents should put out their trees on their regular trash day through Jan. 31, the department says. The city also recycles wrapping paper, tissue paper, holiday cards, boxes and other paper products. For more recycling, click here. Christmas tree mulching in other areas: Baltimore County Howard County Anne Arundel County

Look around your house or apartment. If you have to step over boxes and bags of old clothes, used toys or cases of books just to get from one room to another, it's probably time to take action.This year, you may want to tackle your spring-cleaning in an environmentally sound way. Instead of letting the broken washing machine collect dust in the basement or half-empty paint cans clutter the garage floor, gather your goods and send them off to the recycling center.Run by local governments, nonprofit organizations and private enterprises, recycling collection programs conserve natural resources and restore the environment.

Baltimore County Executive Roger B. Hayden said yesterday that plans for countywide curbside recycling will have to wait and volunteers will have to staff recycling collection centers indefinitely because the county is strapped for cash.Mr. Hayden said budget constraints forced the moves as he unveiled a recycling plan aimed at meeting a state mandate to reduce the county's solid waste by 20 percent by 1994.The plan calls for expanding curbside collection of mixed paper to 55,000 homes by June and offering curbside collection of mixed paper and lawn waste to half of the county's 282,000 homes by 1994.

Baltimore City and County residents who wish to recycle Christmas trees can do so by setting them out for curbside collection.City residents can put their trees out on their second collection day beginning Jan. 6, and sanitation crews will pick them up for recycling. They also can dispose of trees during their neighborhood's monthly clean-sweep day.The city's Department of Public Works requests that residents remove as much tinsel as possible and set the trees where their garbage is normally collected.

Thousands of volunteers who have devoted their Saturday mornings for the past year to keeping Baltimore County's recycling centers alive are coming to a clear consensus.Their work has got to end.And so they are telling County Executive Roger B. Hayden that it is time for the county government to take over. They want county trucks to pick up old newspapers, glass, aluminum, tin and plastic in front of people's houses.But with the recession biting into the county budget, Mr. Hayden has no plans to promise curbside recycling in the near future.

Recycling advocates have taken their case for faster implementation of curbside collections to the Baltimore County Council, which is trying to push the Hayden administration in that very direction.June Moody, a recycling advocate from Catonsville, yesterday presented the council with a plan for once-a-week trash pickup, reserving the current second day of trash collection for recycling.Moody said the plan could be implemented long before 1994 by using private contractors who would sell recyclable material to recycling firms.

Starting Monday, Howard County highway crews will be collecting storm debris left at curbside along the 900 miles of county roads, and regular yard waste recycling collections for bundled materials will be extended through Feb. 5, County Executive James N. Robey announced yesterday.Residents are asked to place broken branches of up to 4 inches in diameter and other storm-related debris at curbside for pickup by highway crews during a one-time sweep. County officials suggest patience, because it will take time for the trucks to get to every neighborhood.

Baltimore City and County residents who wish to recycle Christmas trees can do so by setting them out for curbside collection.City residents can put their trees out on their second collection day beginning Jan. 6, and sanitation crews will pick them up for recycling. They also can dispose of trees during their neighborhood's monthly clean-sweep day.The city's Department of Public Works requests that residents remove as much tinsel as possible and set the trees where their garbage is normally collected.

Curbside recycling has become too much of a good thing in Sykesville. Participation has increased so much that it may end a four-year partnership between the town and its recycling contractor.Mark Billet, owner of Sykesville Recycling Center, told the Town Council Monday that sharp increases in handling costs have made the operation unprofitable. He will not renew his contract when it expires June 30, he said."Curbside recycling is killing us," Mr. Billet said. "Shipping and handling costs are so high that I can't get any money for most items."

Look around your house or apartment. If you have to step over boxes and bags of old clothes, used toys or cases of books just to get from one room to another, it's probably time to take action.This year, you may want to tackle your spring-cleaning in an environmentally sound way. Instead of letting the broken washing machine collect dust in the basement or half-empty paint cans clutter the garage floor, gather your goods and send them off to the recycling center.Run by local governments, nonprofit organizations and private enterprises, recycling collection programs conserve natural resources and restore the environment.

One of the biggest barriers to effective recycling of waste materials has been the lack of a viable market for the materials. All too often, public enthusiasm for "helping the earth" has been --ed by the closing of a recycling center, or the recognition that it costs more to recycle old cans, newspapers, bottles and plastic than it does to dump them.Running out of existing landfill space, and plagued by leaking pollutants from the bottom of this buried detritus, communities are slowly raising dumping fees to market level.

Baltimore County's curbside recycling effort, slow to get started, is now more than half complete, despite an unsettled market for recyclable goods.Some 28,000 households in neighborhoods such as Greater Rosedale and Stoneleigh/Wiltondale began curbside recycling in November -- the largest monthly expansion in the county's 3-year-old recycling program.So far, 84,000 of the county's 200,000 single-family homes get curbside recycling service in a variety of forms as the county works to develop a model for its final effort.

One of the biggest barriers to effective recycling of waste materials has been the lack of a viable market for the materials. All too often, public enthusiasm for "helping the earth" has been --ed by the closing of a recycling center, or the recognition that it costs more to recycle old cans, newspapers, bottles and plastic than it does to dump them.Running out of existing landfill space, and plagued by leaking pollutants from the bottom of this buried detritus, communities are slowly raising dumping fees to market level.

Curbside recycling has become too much of a good thing in Sykesville. Participation has increased so much that it may end a four-year partnership between the town and its recycling contractor.Mark Billet, owner of Sykesville Recycling Center, told the Town Council Monday that sharp increases in handling costs have made the operation unprofitable. He will not renew his contract when it expires June 30, he said."Curbside recycling is killing us," Mr. Billet said. "Shipping and handling costs are so high that I can't get any money for most items."

The burning issue of the day for the County Council is what to do with the executive's proposal to start curbside collection of recyclable trash items.Since November, a majority of the council hasn't done much but trash it.But it's time for the council either to make recommendations for substantive changes to the proposal or this week enact the plan, which calls for residents to place in separate blue bags a wide range of recyclables, from glass to yard waste.The county needs to get on with the business of curbside collection this summer.

The Baltimore County Council approved a recycling plan last night that will mean curbside recycling by July for 55,000 homes, a pilot program to test curbside recycling countywide and an NTC advisory committee to oversee recycling efforts.The plan calls for expanding curbside collection of mixed paper to 21,000 homes by April.The county will expand collection to 55,000 homes by July and offer curbside collection of mixed paper and lawn waste to 155,000 homes -- more than half of the county's 282,000 homes -- by 1994.