Mandatory Recycling

Editor's note: What follows are some of the responses we received tothe survey, "How Should Harford Recycle?" that appeared in the Harford County Sun March 3.Mandate recyclingFrom: Laurie TurnerJoppaI would favor mandatory curbside recycling. At the very least, I would like to see more available drop-off receptacles for recyclables in my immediate area.Yes to curbside pickupFrom: Nancy FairallBel AirI favor the curbsidepickup of recyclables. Those who choose not to sort should pay a higher rate for trash removal.

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.

When Baltimore County Executive Roger Hayden announced plans early this year to blanket the county with curbside recycling collections by 1995, the volunteers who had manned about a dozen drop-off stations on weekends cheered. The county, like Baltimore city and most of its suburban neighbors, was finally entering the late 20th century in refuse collection. It made little sense that residents had an easier (and cheaper) time throwing away their non-renewable garbage than getting rid of their recyclables.

Two trash haulers face fines and suspensions of their licenses to operate in Carroll for failing to comply with the county's recycling ordinance, a county official said yesterday.The firms -- Browning Ferris Industries of Baltimore and Benchoff Trash Service of Westminster -- have each been sent a "notice of violation" and have until today to appeal the suspensions, said county Comptroller Eugene C. Curfman.Unless the firms appeal, their licenses to operate in the county will be suspended, effective Jan. 1, he said.

Howard and Anne Arundel counties are doing a better job of recycling than the numbers might indicate.In an update on the state's new mandatory recycling law, officials recently pinpointed these as two of only six counties -- and the only two in the Baltimore area -- not already meeting the 20 percent recycling requirement. Statistics for the last six months of 1992 showed Howard recycling only 12 percent of its garbage and neighboring Anne Arundel only 13 percent. If they don't improve by Jan. 1, 1994 when the law takes full effect, they could face a state-imposed building moratorium, state officials warned.

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.

Unattended bins where people can drop off recyclable trash can work, but such voluntary systems are not without problems, as officials in the town of Hampstead are discovering. The recycling bins, unfortunately, are becoming repositories for more than just recyclables and the mess around them is annoying residents.Hampstead is not unique in Carroll County (or elsewhere) in having problems with voluntary trash disposal. Mount Airy's effort to create a community compost pile to handle yard waste in Prospect Park became a smelly eyesore after people began tossing bags of trash, old furniture and other refuse into the pile.

Anne Arundel and Howard counties are doing a better job of recycling than the numbers might indicate. In an update on the state's new mandatory recycling law, officials recently pinpointed these as two of only six counties -- and the only two in the Baltimore area -- not already meeting the 20 percent recycling requirement.Statistics for the last six months of 1992 showed Anne Arundel recycling only 13 percent of its garbage and Howard 12 percent. If they don't improve by Jan. 1, 1994, when the law takes full effect, state officials solemnly warned, they could face a state-imposed building moratorium.

Carroll County's belated reconsideration of require countywide recycling represents the realization that the towns alone can't carry the burden with their own recycling programs.The commissioners' decision to draft legislation that would require county residents to recycle their trash is to be commended. Now, citizens must push the governing body to adopt such legislation, which would simply require separation of waste from recyclables for curbside collection.The county commissioners decided against mandatory recycling last year.

Carroll's recycling rate climbed to 16 percent in August, up from 13 percent in July, county officials reported yesterday.The county's overall recycling rate for the first eight months of 1993 was 20.3 percent, up from about 17 percent for the first six months, said Comptroller Eugene C. Curfman.Mr. Curfman credited the high rate to the fact that yard waste is being composted, a form of recycling, instead of being buried with other refuse at Carroll landfills. He also said more businesses have been reporting their recycling efforts to the county.