Trash And Recyclables

About 6,200 Howard County residents will have to put out their trash and recyclables on a new day of the week when the county's waste collection contracts are renewed July 1.Waste haulers are distributing the information -- packaged in plastic bags hung on doors -- to affected residents around the county.The rescheduled areas include Allview Estates, Savage, North Laurel, Huntington, Columbia's Long Reach and Owen Brown villages, and Elkridge's Meadowridge and Mayfield areas. Only certain homes in those areas face the change.

By the time the last of the runners completed Saturday's Baltimore Running Festival, there was hardly any evidence of the many water bottles, used cups and waste that pile up at the finish line. That's because volunteers such as 10-year-old Justin Thiels worked hard to clean up in an environmentally sustainable way as part of the event's first-ever green initiative. "This is fun," Thiels said as he picked up Gatorade cups and plastic bottles and put them in appropriate trash bags to be composted and recycled, respectively.

Curbside recycling will come to Manchester in November, following the Town Council's approval last night of a new 14-month contract with the town's trash hauler.The contract with Hughes Trash Removal Inc. calls for weekly pickup of trash and recyclables at the doorsteps of the town's 975 households.The approximately $44,000 price tag for the new contract represents an increase of more than $13,000 over the current agreement.Town officials had budgeted as much as $20,000 for the added cost of recycling when they passed the 1993 budget in May.Residents will have trash and recyclables picked up at the same time on Wednesdays under the agreement, which goes into effect Nov. 1. The first trash pickup under the contract is Nov. 4.Residents will be able to place recyclable material at the curb in containers of their choice.

Trash is a five-letter word that provokes strong feelings in Baltimore. The city's twice-a-week pickup is about as basic a public service as there is in this town. And a plan by the Dixon administration to reduce twice-weekly trash collection to once a week, plus weekly pickup of recyclables, has some balking. But the proposal shouldn't be looked at as another attempt to erode city services or the city's scrimping to save a buck. It's an attempt to better manage collection, save costly landfill space and boost recycling, from which the city actually earns money.

Waste Management Inc. officials have assured Carroll's mayors that they will resolve problems with the firm's trash and recycling service.Since the firm began curbside service in some towns last fall, residents have complained about trash and recyclables being picked up late or not at all and about recyclables being thrown in with trash."

Paper-clogged drains prompt meetingMount Airy Mayor Gerald R. Johnson will meet with local newspaper distributors at 2 p.m. Wednesday to address concerns about newspapers clogging the town's storm drains.Mr. Johnson said free newspapers are left lying around and end up being washed down storm drains. Councilman Marcum N. Nance complained that free newspapers are delivered to residents whether they want them or not.One resident suggested that the town invite distributors of metropolitan newspapers to the meeting because those newspapers are often thrown on lawns.

County residents will have to pay more for trash disposal if the county is to comply with state and federal environmental laws, officials with County Executive Robert R. Neall's administration said yesterday.Mr. Neall proposed a schedule of fee increases to the County Council Monday night that would raise the annual charge for residents with curbside pickup to $130 from $90.Commercial haulers -- who collect trash for South County residents, apartment dwellers and businesses -- also would have to pay more when they enter the county's Millersville landfill.

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.

By the time the last of the runners completed Saturday's Baltimore Running Festival, there was hardly any evidence of the many water bottles, used cups and waste that pile up at the finish line. That's because volunteers such as 10-year-old Justin Thiels worked hard to clean up in an environmentally sustainable way as part of the event's first-ever green initiative. "This is fun," Thiels said as he picked up Gatorade cups and plastic bottles and put them in appropriate trash bags to be composted and recycled, respectively.

Local trash haulers urged the Recycling Committee last night to separate trash from recyclables not just at the curb, but also in the contracts.On the other hand, most mayors in the county met Monday and urged the County Commissioners to come up with a countywide plan for both trash and recyclables."

About 6,200 Howard County residents will have to put out their trash and recyclables on a new day of the week when the county's waste collection contracts are renewed July 1.Waste haulers are distributing the information -- packaged in plastic bags hung on doors -- to affected residents around the county.The rescheduled areas include Allview Estates, Savage, North Laurel, Huntington, Columbia's Long Reach and Owen Brown villages, and Elkridge's Meadowridge and Mayfield areas. Only certain homes in those areas face the change.

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.

County residents will have to pay more for trash disposal if the county is to comply with state and federal environmental laws, officials with County Executive Robert R. Neall's administration said yesterday.Mr. Neall proposed a schedule of fee increases to the County Council Monday night that would raise the annual charge for residents with curbside pickup to $130 from $90.Commercial haulers -- who collect trash for South County residents, apartment dwellers and businesses -- also would have to pay more when they enter the county's Millersville landfill.

When Grace Davis' three children grew up and left home, she didn't really want to go out and find a job.So, the 54-year-old Westminster woman bought her own trash company, Gem Collections Inc."A friend of mine started the company [in May], and I thought it was a great idea," Ms. Davis said. "My friend started to have financial problems, so I bought the company."My husband thought I was crazy, but I had some money of my own and thought, 'Why not?' "The new company, which serves about 270 customers in Carroll County, picks up trash at the door.

Paper-clogged drains prompt meetingMount Airy Mayor Gerald R. Johnson will meet with local newspaper distributors at 2 p.m. Wednesday to address concerns about newspapers clogging the town's storm drains.Mr. Johnson said free newspapers are left lying around and end up being washed down storm drains. Councilman Marcum N. Nance complained that free newspapers are delivered to residents whether they want them or not.One resident suggested that the town invite distributors of metropolitan newspapers to the meeting because those newspapers are often thrown on lawns.

Waste Management Inc. officials have assured Carroll's mayors that they will resolve problems with the firm's trash and recycling service.Since the firm began curbside service in some towns last fall, residents have complained about trash and recyclables being picked up late or not at all and about recyclables being thrown in with trash."

Baltimore County launched a new phase of its rapidly expanding curbside recycling program yesterday by beginning a pilot project in Relay that substitutes a pickup of mixed paper and yard waste for one of two weekly trash collections.Instead of having two trash pickups a week, Relay residents will have what county officials are calling one-plus-one curbside recycling collection: one day for trash and one day for recyclables. Early yesterday, County Executive Roger B. Hayden kicked off the project by donning a bright orange jumpsuit and spending 45 minutes helping crews pick up recyclables in Relay.

Like their counterparts elsewhere in the state, Carroll County residents have grudgingly recognized that recycling is their best chance for dealing with the region's solid waste disposal problem. The county has a state-of-the-art landfill in Reese. But removing recyclables from the waste stream will save residents millions of dollars over the long run.The problem is that while everyone agrees recycling is the way to go, no one knows quite how to get there. The county commissioners are looking at county-wide curbside pick-ups for recyclables only.

Curbside recycling will come to Manchester in November, following the Town Council's approval last night of a new 14-month contract with the town's trash hauler.The contract with Hughes Trash Removal Inc. calls for weekly pickup of trash and recyclables at the doorsteps of the town's 975 households.The approximately $44,000 price tag for the new contract represents an increase of more than $13,000 over the current agreement.Town officials had budgeted as much as $20,000 for the added cost of recycling when they passed the 1993 budget in May.Residents will have trash and recyclables picked up at the same time on Wednesdays under the agreement, which goes into effect Nov. 1. The first trash pickup under the contract is Nov. 4.Residents will be able to place recyclable material at the curb in containers of their choice.

TANEYTOWN -- Two Fairground Village residents trashed the City Council Monday for not enforcing a garbage ordinance that some city officers did not know existed.Terri Wetzel and Georgia Krug, next door neighbors in the 100 block of Carnival Drive, complained that people put trash out a day or more before pick-up, drawing animals that dig through the garbage. The women said the trash is a health and safety hazard."The smell of the left out garbage even gagged a trash man," Mrs. Krug said. "It doesn't seem like this town is doing anything to stop this."