Paper Recycling

Charred remains continued to smolder yesterday at the Simkins Industries paper recycling plant in Catonsville, more than 14 hours after a fire tore through the historic industrial site in the Patapsco River valley. Baltimore County fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire, which grew to four alarms about an hour after it began at 8:40 p.m. Monday, said Elise Armacost, a Fire Department spokeswoman. No one was injured in the blaze that started in a waste paper storage area, fire officials said.

Students at St. Andrew's United Methodist Day School in Edgewater are taking on a new environmental issue in their quest to receive a "Green School" designation from the Maryland Department of Education. This year, they began to sell reusable grocery bags to discourage shoppers from using plastic ones. Environmentalists say plastic bags cause more pollution when they wind up in landfills and are washed into the Chesapeake Bay. Next week, the Annapolis city council is expected to decide whether to ban retailers from using plastic bags.

Call him the guru of recycling. Elkridge resident Richard Keller, who transformed a youthful passion for ecology into a full-blown career, has been named one of the country's top 10 recyclers.Mr. Keller -- who shares the honor with officials from Nynex, Motorola and Coors Brewing Co. -- was selected in March by the National Office Paper Recycling Project, a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based group that promotes recycling in the workplace."Richard is the guru of recycling efforts in this country," said Richard Kochan, project director of the Buy Recycle Campaign of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The Carroll County 4-H program has started an environmentally friendly fundraiser that offers citizens another option for recycling some of their wastepaper. With help from the county government, which is again pushing the recycling concept through single-stream recycling, 4-H has placed 12 marked bins around the county to collect several types of paper. Leeann Boyce, a 4-H educator, said she saw one of the bins in Silver Run and called about it. The project started with one bin, which is green and bright yellow with a "Local Fundraiser" sign on it, at the Carroll County Agriculture Center in March.

XIYU VILLAGE, China -- Little did Bob Dzurick suspect that the envelope he sent from Missouri to Illinois last summer would become part of the latest quarrel between the United States and China.The 50-year-old insurance salesman had put some forms in the green and white United Parcel Service envelope. Then he sent off the package from his hometown of Washington, Mo., to Chicago for processing at the headquarters of his company, Combined Insurance Co.A clerk took out the forms for processing and threw away the UPS envelope.

How does a city leader demonstrate Baltimore's commitment to curbside recycling?If you're Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, you tossed boxes of used paper onto a garbage truck as you kicked off a curbside recycling program yesterday in southwest Baltimore.Schmoke visited the home of Annie Albert, in the 1200 block of Wicklow Road in Rognel Heights, to introduce the city's paper recycling program to the neighborhood.He said 78,000 homes already have curbside pickup of paper products, and, as of yesterday, an additional 34,000homes will be served.

The solemn-faced man on the video screen has pursed lips, a receding hairline and a warning."It needs almost a religious conversion," he cautions as he calls for commitment: "The actual battles are fought on every desk in the organization -- in desk drawers . . . in the minds of all of us."The threat he warns about is paper. Office paper. And he is serious.The glut of paper piled up on desks, overloading file cabinets and spilling from bookcases can foil efficiency and make important documents impossible to find.

Because of the severe drought and associated crop losses this year, the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corp. has created a loan fund to help farmers with weather-related income losses. The 2007 Farm Drought and Weather Event Recovery Assistance Loan Fund offers low-interest operating loans to producers who have suffered significant crop, livestock, feed or dairy losses. The program helps pay for all or part of production costs associated with the drought, as well as essential family living expenses.

For six months last year, the city Department of Public Works forgot to bill the company that buys Baltimore's recycled paper. Now the city is trying to recoup $200,000 it says it is owed, as the financially strapped company closes down. Under the contract with Partners Quality Recycling Services, signed in April last year, the city was to receive $43 a ton for paper collected, plus a fee based on the market value of paper. But DPW's Bureau of Solid Waste did not bill the company between April and September 2000.

New faculty member joins community collegeBarbara Leitherer, an instructor in pre-calculus mathematics and statistics, joined the faculty of Carroll County Community College this fall.A native of Germany, Ms. Leitherer moved to the United States in 1987. She has a master's degree in math and geography. Her teaching career began in Boulder, Colo., where she taught at a junior high school and part time at Denver Community College.An avid folk dancer, musician and sportswoman, she belongs to the Verein Deutscher Trachten, a German folk dancing group that performs in the Tidewater area of Virginia.

Because of the severe drought and associated crop losses this year, the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corp. has created a loan fund to help farmers with weather-related income losses. The 2007 Farm Drought and Weather Event Recovery Assistance Loan Fund offers low-interest operating loans to producers who have suffered significant crop, livestock, feed or dairy losses. The program helps pay for all or part of production costs associated with the drought, as well as essential family living expenses.

It's about as sexy a subject as orthopedic shoes, though the silver film and chicken feather options offer some panache. But sexy or not, mulch has a big effect on the health, beauty and productivity of the garden. "There's a huge benefit for weed control and moisture retention," observes Maree Gaetani, public relations director at Gardener's Supply Co. in Burlington, Vt. Mulch keeps weeds down by smothering them. It keeps moisture in while keeping fruits and vegetables off the soil to prevent mold and rot. And organic mulch benefits soil structure and content.

Charred remains continued to smolder yesterday at the Simkins Industries paper recycling plant in Catonsville, more than 14 hours after a fire tore through the historic industrial site in the Patapsco River valley. Baltimore County fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire, which grew to four alarms about an hour after it began at 8:40 p.m. Monday, said Elise Armacost, a Fire Department spokeswoman. No one was injured in the blaze that started in a waste paper storage area, fire officials said.

Question of the Month Mayor Martin O'Malley recently announced plans for the city to take over about 5,000 of the tens of thousands of vacant properties that blight many Baltimore neighborhoods. What do you think the city should do with its abandoned properties? We are looking for 250 words or less; the deadline is Feb. 18. Letters become the property of The Sun, which reserves the right to edit them. By submitting a letter, the author grants The Sun an irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use and republish the letter, in whole or in part, in all media and to authorize others to reprint it. Letters should include your name and address, along with a day and evening telephone number.

For six months last year, the city Department of Public Works forgot to bill the company that buys Baltimore's recycled paper. Now the city is trying to recoup $200,000 it says it is owed, as the financially strapped company closes down. Under the contract with Partners Quality Recycling Services, signed in April last year, the city was to receive $43 a ton for paper collected, plus a fee based on the market value of paper. But DPW's Bureau of Solid Waste did not bill the company between April and September 2000.

XIYU VILLAGE, China -- Little did Bob Dzurick suspect that the envelope he sent from Missouri to Illinois last summer would become part of the latest quarrel between the United States and China.The 50-year-old insurance salesman had put some forms in the green and white United Parcel Service envelope. Then he sent off the package from his hometown of Washington, Mo., to Chicago for processing at the headquarters of his company, Combined Insurance Co.A clerk took out the forms for processing and threw away the UPS envelope.

Take a second look at that junk mail you're throwing away with the trash: It might be worth something -- to Howard County.The demand for the waste paper that the county collects from homes for recycling has increased so much that a local paper mill, Simkins Industries in Catonsville, has agreed to pay the $300,000 or so a year the county used to pay to process paper for shipment.The agreement, effective Jan. 1, means that the county no longer will have to pay the $18.61 a ton it had been paying Browning-Ferris Industries to bale paper at its Elkridge Recycling plant.

Paper recycling plant due in HagerstownHAGERSTOWN -- Construction could begin as early asAugust on a $135 million paper recycling and power plant that will recycle about 400 tons of office waste paper a day, company officials said.The first phase of the project is building a 200,000-square-foot de-inking center to recycle the paper and a waste water treatment plant, said Thomas W. Murray, communications director for PENCOR Inc., a Baltimore company that is the principal firm in the development partnership.

Baltimore County is suing a recycling company for more than $1 million, alleging it has failed to pay for most of the recyclable paper it had contracted to buy from local landfills since last summer.Prins Recycling (Maryland) Corp. agreed in July to a one-year contract to collect recyclable paper from the landfill storage sites and pay the county $122.50 a ton.But since the fall, the company -- based in Fort Lee, N.J., with a facility on Chesapeake Avenue in Baltimore -- has been picking up paper without paying for it and owes the local government $1.2 million, according to a civil suit filed in the county Circuit Court last month.

Call him the guru of recycling. Elkridge resident Richard Keller, who transformed a youthful passion for ecology into a full-blown career, has been named one of the country's top 10 recyclers.Mr. Keller -- who shares the honor with officials from Nynex, Motorola and Coors Brewing Co. -- was selected in March by the National Office Paper Recycling Project, a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based group that promotes recycling in the workplace."Richard is the guru of recycling efforts in this country," said Richard Kochan, project director of the Buy Recycle Campaign of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.