Recycling Committee

Municipal centersOpen Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.Baltimore County Resource Recovery FacilityCockeysvilleRecycle Way, off 10300 block of York Road, a block south of Warren Road.Eastern Sanitary LandfillWhite MarshDays Cove Road, off 11500 block of Pulaski Highway, a block east of Alexander Road.Western Acceptance FacilityHalethorpeTransway Road, off 4500 block of Hollins Ferry RoadRegional community centersDundalk, The Greening of Dundalk Committee Inc.North Point Government CenterRear parking lot, Merritt Boulevard and Wise AvenueSaturday, 8 a.m.-11 a.m.Essex, Back River Neck Peninsula Community AssociationKenwood Senior High SchoolStemmers Run Road and Marlyn AvenueSaturday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.Hereford, North Baltimore County Recycling Committee Inc.L Graul's parking lot, Mount Carmel Road east of Interstate 83Sunday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.Owings Mills, Owings Mills Green ActionMTA Park and Ride Lot, Owings Mills Town CenterSunday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.Pikesville Grass Roots Recycling Inc.Milford Mill MTA StationEast parking lot, Milford Mill RoadSaturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.Towson, Towson-Parkville Recycling Committee Inc.Bendix parking lot on East Joppa RoadSaturday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.White Marsh-Perry Hall, ETR Recycling Inc.IKEA parking lot near Honeygo BoulevardSunday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Several members of Sykesville Town Council are shifting committee assignments, effective immediately.Mayor Jonathan S. Herman made the changes to bring different perspectives to departments.Michael Burgoyne will work with the Historic District Commission, while Michael Kasnia takes Burgoyne's slot on the Recycling Committee.Garth Adams will replace Bill Hall as chairman of the Recreation and Parks Council. Hall, a career firefighter, becomes liaison with the town Police Department.Daryl Doxzen and Eugene Johnson will continue their respective assignments with the Planning Commission and Public Works Department.

Several members of Sykesville Town Council are shifting committee assignments, effective immediately.Mayor Jonathan S. Herman made the changes to bring different perspectives to departments.Michael Burgoyne will work with the Historic District Commission, while Michael Kasnia takes Burgoyne's slot on the Recycling Committee.Garth Adams will replace Bill Hall as chairman of the Recreation and Parks Council. Hall, a career firefighter, becomes liaison with the town Police Department.Daryl Doxzen and Eugene Johnson will continue their respective assignments with the Planning Commission and Public Works Department.

The only Carroll town with a municipal trash-collection service wants to boost its recycling program, decrease residential collection and increase fees charged to its commercial customers.Sykesville Councilman Michael Burgoyne, chairman of the Recycling Committee, has proposed cutting residential collection from twice to once a week and increasing recycling pickups from twice a month to weekly.The committee also is calling for an increase of up to 50 percent in commercial fees charged to businesses, which account for about 40 percent of the town's trash.

Two years ago, the county had no citizens board keeping watch on theenvironment.Now it has two.But there are plenty of issues to go around for both the Recycling Committee and the more comprehensive Environmental Affairs AdvisoryBoard, said James E. Slater Jr., director of the county Department of Natural Resources Protection.Hearty agreement came from Taneytown's James L. Thomas, chairman of the Recycling Committee, which oversees solid waste and recycling."I think the Environmental AffairsBoard . . . could have too much work."

It was such an environmentally correct thing to do.Two years ago, Mount Airy's recycling committee started a compost pile in Prospect Park for town residents to dispose of yard waste. The idea was to reduce the amount of it that ended up in the landfill.As an added benefit, Carroll and Frederick counties agreed to grind the compost pile into mulch every month. The mulch was made available to Mount Airy residents at no cost.The arrangement worked well for a while, but in the past few months the compost pile has become a massive, smelly eyesore.

Sykesville is the only county town that wants to keep a red recycling bin.While the other municipalities are discarding the containers, "we will use it as the only way to get rid of our plastics," said Mayor Jonathan Herman.The town began curbside pickup of newspapers, glass and aluminum in October, but crews do not collect plastic."We need to provide that service to residents," said Councilwoman Julie Kaus, chairwoman of the recycling committee. "We have to go against the grain of the rest of the towns and keep the red bin, at least on a trial basis."

Ten months after Earth Day, the county's efforts to recycle seem to be hitting a plateau, fear members of the Recycling Committee."There's not a clear commitment from the board for what recycling will look like in the county long-term," said James Thomas, a Westminster acupuncturist who chairs the Recycling Committee, which is appointed by the County Commissioners.Thomas pointed to the study released this month by a consultant working with Carroll, Frederick, Howard and Washington counties.

The only Carroll town with a municipal trash-collection service wants to boost its recycling program, decrease residential collection and increase fees charged to its commercial customers.Sykesville Councilman Michael Burgoyne, chairman of the Recycling Committee, has proposed cutting residential collection from twice to once a week and increasing recycling pickups from twice a month to weekly.The committee also is calling for an increase of up to 50 percent in commercial fees charged to businesses, which account for about 40 percent of the town's trash.

During its first full year of recycling, which ended June 30, Sykesville recycled 406 tons, about 30 percent of its trash.The red bin, a recycling receptacle on loan from the county, remains the one trouble spot in the program, said Councilwoman Julie Kaus, who chairs the Recycling Committee."

Sykesville is the only county town that wants to keep a red recycling bin.While the other municipalities are discarding the containers, "we will use it as the only way to get rid of our plastics," said Mayor Jonathan Herman.The town began curbside pickup of newspapers, glass and aluminum in October, but crews do not collect plastic."We need to provide that service to residents," said Councilwoman Julie Kaus, chairwoman of the recycling committee. "We have to go against the grain of the rest of the towns and keep the red bin, at least on a trial basis."

During its first full year of recycling, which ended June 30, Sykesville recycled 406 tons, about 30 percent of its trash.The red bin, a recycling receptacle on loan from the county, remains the one trouble spot in the program, said Councilwoman Julie Kaus, who chairs the Recycling Committee."

Sykesville may adopt a recycling plan that would be more convenient for residents and more time-consuming for maintenance workers.Residents now drop off about 20 percent of their trash at the town recycling center.Under the proposed plan, they could place those recyclables at their curbs for pickup twice a month.Sykesville town crews would sort the items immediately and place them in appropriate containers on their truck.To give crews the time to devote to recycling, the plan calls for decreasing regular trash pickup from two days a week to one.Randy Hughes, sanitation supervisor, said the current recycling percentage is well above the county average and the "highest" it has ever been in town.

It was such an environmentally correct thing to do.Two years ago, Mount Airy's recycling committee started a compost pile in Prospect Park for town residents to dispose of yard waste. The idea was to reduce the amount of it that ended up in the landfill.As an added benefit, Carroll and Frederick counties agreed to grind the compost pile into mulch every month. The mulch was made available to Mount Airy residents at no cost.The arrangement worked well for a while, but in the past few months the compost pile has become a massive, smelly eyesore.

Mount Airy, which recycles 40 percent of its trash, has won recognition from the Maryland Recyclers Coalition for "bringing recycling to a small community."Four years ago, the Mount Airy Town Council formed a citizens recycling committee to spearhead community recycling efforts.The committee worked with officials in Frederick and Carroll counties to get drop-off recycling bins placed throughout the town to collect clear and colored glass, aluminum cans and plastic. The town straddles the Frederick-Carroll border.

Mount Airy, which recycles 40 percent of its trash, has won recognition from the Maryland Recyclers Coalition for "bringing recycling to a small community."Four years ago, the Mount Airy Town Council formed a citizens recycling committee to spearhead community recycling efforts.The committee worked with officials in Frederick and Carroll counties to get drop-off recycling bins placed throughout the town to collect clear and colored glass, aluminum cans and plastic. The town straddles the Frederick-Carroll border.

SYKESVILLE - Though the town's month-old recycling program is off to a sluggish start, organizers hope to follow in the footsteps of other successful efforts in South Carroll.Residents haven't been flocking to the Sykesville recycling center, which opened its doors Oct. 13 at the town's new maintainance building off Sandosky Road.But town administrators are planning a December information campaign they hope will motivate would-be recyclers into action, said Maxine Wooleyhand, a member of Town Council and the recycling committee.

Union Bridge residents will choose from two incumbents and two vocal newcomers during the May 11 election for three Town Council members.Council members Bonnie M. Hyde and Selby Black are seeking re-election. Toni Eder, editor of the town's newsletter, and Vicki Greenwood, chairwoman of the Town Hall Funding Committee, are entering politics for the first time."It's something I want to do at this point," said Ms. Eder, 34, a homemaker who has been heavily involved in town activities since moving to Union Bridge five years ago."

Union Bridge residents will choose from two incumbents and two vocal newcomers during the May 11 election for three Town Council members.Council members Bonnie M. Hyde and Selby Black are seeking re-election. Toni Eder, editor of the town's newsletter, and Vicki Greenwood, chairwoman of the Town Hall Funding Committee, are entering politics for the first time."It's something I want to do at this point," said Ms. Eder, 34, a homemaker who has been heavily involved in town activities since moving to Union Bridge five years ago."

Sykesville's recycling center is handling about 10 tons of cardboard and newspaper every three weeks. Randy Hughes knows just how to turn that tonnage into dollars -- if he has a baler.At Monday's Town Council meeting, he presented numbers and cost estimates in making his pitch for a baler, which can gather trash into bundles and tie them up."We could bale just about anything we recycle, including aluminum," said Mr. Hughes, the supervisor of the Bureau of Streets and Sanitation. "More buyers are available for baled items, such as cardboard."