Mandatory Recycling

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.

Reading Sharon Hornberger's views on recycling -- "Westminster's mandatory recycling law should be trashed" (Carroll County Sun, July 5) -- leaves me relieved that she represents The Carroll County Sun rather than the residents of Carroll County.With all due respect to the lady, we already have too many leaders who wouldn't recognize water if they fell out of a boat.Recycling is not a terribly complex issue -- it is simply a disposal option for the trash that each of us generates each and every day.Today, we have only two legal options.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."This is given to us from the Declaration of Independence. Abraham Lincoln defined this as meaning that ". . . It was the right of the people to govern themselves, to be sovereign of their own affairs, in the sense that a state belongs to the people who inhabit it."

The county commissioners boosted their efforts to begin a voluntary recycling program July 1 by awarding a $258,000 contract to a Finksburg firm to operate a collection center for recyclables.Under the five-year contract, Phoenix Recycling Inc. will collect recyclables -- at no cost -- from trash haulers serving the county and from residents at its facility at 2700 Emory Road.The county will pay Phoenix $258,000 to operate the facility and market the recyclables the first year. The final cost could vary, depending on the amount of recyclables collected at the facility, said county Attorney Charles W. Thompson Jr.The contract is based on Phoenix's low bid for the county's initial plan for mandatory recycling.

Bowing to public pressure, the county commissioners say they may scrap mandatory recycling and other aspects of a proposed solid waste program that raised objections from residents and trash haulers."

The county commissioners are moving forward with a proposed $40-per-ton tipping fee, even though the cost of a revised solid waste management program, which would include mandatory recycling, is projected to be higher.During a work session Wednesday on proposed revisions to the county's Solid Waste Management Ordinance, officials said they expect the cost of burying and recycling trash to be about $53 per ton.County Attorney Charles W. Thompson Jr. said commissioners believed that raising the tipping fee by $25 -- from $15 per ton to $40 -- was enough to make the revised program operable.

Mayor Lloyd R. Helt Jr. says town residents already recycle more than 15 percent of their solid waste -- the state-mandated goal -- and shouldn't have to pay for the county's waste disposal problem."

Get those blue bags ready. Recycling is finally coming to Harford County.The County Council voted, 6-1, at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday to pass an amended recycling plan that calls for glass, plastic containers, newspaper and other recyclables separated in blue plastic bags for curbside collection.The blue plastic bags already are being used as grocery bags by some food chains in Harford. They also may be purchased separately like other trash bags once the voluntary recycling program starts in July.

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.

Well, are you ready to get started on a yearlong environmental project?You sent thousands of cards and letters, and you picked one subject for us to work on -- although it certainly wasn't unanimous. You voted for alternative energy, for convincing Congress to take ozone depletion more seriously, for regulating junk mail. One person even voted for saving resources by forcing cereal companies to make their boxes smaller.A lot of you expressed a sense that there's so much to tackle, it's hard to know where to start.