Recycling Pickup

This schedule will be in effect in the Baltimore area tomorrow for the Independence Day holiday:Anne Arundel CountyCounty offices, closedCourts, closedLibraries open tomorrow, closed Saturday and SundayTrash removal, no pickup SaturdayAnnapolisCity offices, closedCourts, closedParking meter,s feedTrash removal, no pickupBaltimoreCity offices, closedCourts, closedLibraries, closed tomorrow and SaturdayParking meters, pay tomorrow, free on SaturdayTrash removal,...

Though the county has reached the point where it can collect recyclable paper, cans and most bottles from all county homes, not everyone has -- or wants -- the free service.A lack of enthusiasm among a few apartment managers and condominium associations to accept the popular free service has left some residents without a benefit that most others in the county now enjoy."I'm a little distraught that we were never asked," said Sally Yasenka, who has lived for five years in a townhouse in Glen Meadows Condominiums in Columbia's Town Center, one of 13 complexes around the county that have refused the recycling pickup.

At one time, recycling was something that took some effort, a sign of how much one cared about the environment.Those days are fading in Howard County, and with them will go "Sort with MoRT," the county's Mobile Recycling Truck.On June 30, the beige MoRT truck that has come to symbolize the county's recycling program will be retired after six years of service, now that recycling has become as ordinary and as easy as putting out the trash.All of the county's houses now get free curbside recycling pickup from the county.

As curbside recycling expands into more areas of Baltimore County, the changes in trash pickup can come as a shock for some residents.For example, residents of older townhouse developments, long accustomed to putting their trash on the sidewalk in front of their homes, now must carry their trash and recyclables to a central area for collection.Samuel A. Hicks of Randallstown thinks that puts a hardship on the elderly and disabled."It's hard for senior citizens and handicapped people to get their trash to the front of their house, let alone carry it 50 yards or more to a central pickup spot," said Mr. Hicks, who investigates discrimination complaints for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Hey! Students and parents! Howard County Public Schools have designated this week as Employee Appreciation Week. Do something nice for those people -- teachers and administrators, school secretaries, custodians and bus drivers -- who work so hard to help the kids succeed. If you can't do anything else, a simple "thank you" will be much appreciated. (And if you believe that these folk have an easy job, try following one of them for a day.)Congratulations to Thunder Hill Elementary School second grader Tessa Manolopoulos, who won the first-prize gold trophy from the Howard County Fire and Rescue Department's Buzzy and Flash Color Contest.

Bel Air resident Sharon Penrose started recycling her trash a year ago. Now, she says, "I just can't stop."Her enthusiasm for recycling is one reason Penrose volunteered to be one of the county's "block captains," whose mission is to inform neighbors about the voluntary trash recycling program that starts tomorrow.The captains' duties include distributing blue, plastic bags to hold recyclables and handing out pamphlets to neighbors so they'll understand clearly how Harford's residential curbside recycling program will work.

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.

Pleading it is too poor to comply with a 1989 recycling law, New York City is planning to cancel its ambitious goals in collecting glass, metal, paper and plastic. Baltimore City is not in great financial shape either, but here the administration is going ahead with a far-reaching recycling plan.By July, 50 percent of the city's neighborhoods will move from two weekly garbage pickups to a system in which regular trash is picked up on the first of the two weekly pickup days and recyclables on the second.

During the next couple of weeks you'll hear more about blue bags than you ever wanted to. The reason is that Baltimore is gradually changing over to a citywide recycling program and blue see-through plastic bags are a key element.As neighborhood after neighborhood switches from two weekly garbage pickups to one regular trash collection and one recycling pickup, those blue bags are to be used for glass bottles, aluminum cans and plastic containers and jugs. Garbage crews will alternate between picking up these items one week and paper products the next.

Few sights look prettier to Kenneth Strong than a line of bulging blue bags sitting next to half-empty trash cans.That's because Mr. Strong is the city's recycling coordinator, the man in charge of getting Baltimore residents to pack up their recyclables in their new blue bags.The 42-year-old Baltimore native spent nine years working in community affairs for the state's attorney's office, a job he held there when now-Mayor Kurt Schmoke headed that office.Mr. Strong says he believes his experience with the city's neighborhood leaders led Mr. Schmoke to tap him for the job.Q.

Call me the mad recycler. It's been an obsession of mine for decades. I'm the guy who goes around the tables after the church dinner, collecting those red plastic cups - you never noticed they have that little recycling symbol, did you? - and bringing them home in a plastic bag while my family members indulgently roll their eyes. I invented a recycling game with my kids: Hey, who can find the little raised triangle on this container? (The entertainment value is increased by the fact that a lot of packaging manufacturers do their darnedest to make the thing practically invisible.

The sun had only begun to cast shadows Friday as garbage collectors jumped into their trucks to begin routes that have remained virtually unchanged for more than 40 years. But starting Monday, sweeping changes will come to Baltimore's sanitation routine. City garbage and recycling crews will be placed on newly drafted routes, and trash and recycling will each be picked up once a week, instead of the former schedule, when trash was picked up twice a week and recycling once every two weeks.

This schedule will be in effect today: Anne Arundel County offices: Closed Courts: Closed Libraries: Closed Senior centers: Closed Public schools: Closed Trash removal: No trash, recycling or yard-waste pickup; landfills closed Annapolis City offices: Closed Parking meters: Feed Bus service: No service Trash removal: No residential refuse or yard recycling pickup; curbside recycling collection for bottles, cans, papers will not occur; no makeup days...

This schedule will be in effect Wednesday: Anne Arundel County offices: Closed Courts: Closed Libraries: Closed Senior centers: Closed Public schools: Closed Trash removal: No trash, recycling or yard-waste pickup; landfills closed Annapolis City offices: Closed Parking meters: Feed Bus service: No service Trash removal: No residential refuse or yard recycling pickup; curbside recycling collection for bottles, cans, papers will not occur; no makeup...

This schedule will be in effect in the Baltimore area Monday: Anne Arundel City offices: closed County offices: closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed Public schools: closed Trash removal: trash, recycling and yard waste pickup, but landfills closed. Annapolis City offices: closed Parking meters: feed Bus service: Regular service, free all day Trash removal: no pickup Baltimore City offices: closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed Parking meters: feed Public schools: closed Trash removal: no pickup, stations closed Baltimore County County offices: closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed Parking meters: feed Public schools: closed CountyRide: no service Senior centers: closed Trash removal: trash and recycling pickup, landfill open Carroll County County offices: closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed Public schools: closed Carroll Area Transit System: no service.

Crofton residents' recycling pickups switched to Mondays The county Department of Public Works says it made a mistake when it sent out notices of changes in residential trash and recycling pickups - failing to inform about 1,000 Crofton households that their recycling pickup was switched from Thursdays to Mondays. Affected are neighborhoods in the Crofton triangle off Crofton Parkway that have trash pickup Mondays and Thursdays. The county provides two trash pickups and one recycling pickup weekly.

This schedule will be in effect in the Baltimore area tomorrow for the Independence Day holiday:Anne Arundel CountyCounty offices, closedCourts, closedLibraries open tomorrow, closed Saturday and SundayTrash removal, no pickup SaturdayAnnapolisCity offices, closedCourts, closedParking meter,s feedTrash removal, no pickupBaltimoreCity offices, closedCourts, closedLibraries, closed tomorrow and SaturdayParking meters, pay tomorrow, free on SaturdayTrash removal,...

Though the county has reached the point where it can collect recyclable paper, cans and most bottles from all county homes, not everyone has -- or wants -- the free service.A lack of enthusiasm among a few apartment managers and condominium associations to accept the popular free service has left some residents without a benefit that most others in the county now enjoy."I'm a little distraught that we were never asked," said Sally Yasenka, who has lived for five years in a townhouse in Glen Meadows Condominiums in Columbia's Town Center, one of 13 complexes around the county that have refused the recycling pickup.

At one time, recycling was something that took some effort, a sign of how much one cared about the environment.Those days are fading in Howard County, and with them will go "Sort with MoRT," the county's Mobile Recycling Truck.On June 30, the beige MoRT truck that has come to symbolize the county's recycling program will be retired after six years of service, now that recycling has become as ordinary and as easy as putting out the trash.All of the county's houses now get free curbside recycling pickup from the county.

As curbside recycling expands into more areas of Baltimore County, the changes in trash pickup can come as a shock for some residents.For example, residents of older townhouse developments, long accustomed to putting their trash on the sidewalk in front of their homes, now must carry their trash and recyclables to a central area for collection.Samuel A. Hicks of Randallstown thinks that puts a hardship on the elderly and disabled."It's hard for senior citizens and handicapped people to get their trash to the front of their house, let alone carry it 50 yards or more to a central pickup spot," said Mr. Hicks, who investigates discrimination complaints for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.