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n/a
deleted
81 Posts |
 Posted - 07/16/2008 : 04:17:41
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Compliance with recycling ordinances in south Bergen towns is mixed and the rules are not strictly enforced. South Bergen towns recycle everything from tin cans to grass clippings to electronics.
Rutherford Recycling coordinator Sharon Del Vecchio has had problems with cooperation, particularly with regard to a townhouse complex she did not name. The Rutherford Department of Public Works has not fined anyone in recent memory, but Del Vecchio said it is not out of the question. "ItĄ¯s not enforced very well. I believe the administration at the time ¨C it just wasnĄ¯t something that they did," she said.
Will you get fined?
One area where Rutherford residents need improvement is wood waste, which should be collected separately from other heavy garbage. Lyndhurst recycling coordinator said people in Lyndhurst have been good at recycling goods, but noted that town sanitation workers cannot always spot bottles and cans mixed in with regular trash. "The townspeople are pretty good. We have a good turnout for recycling," said Rosa.
East Rutherford recycling coordinator Mark LaGala said people have been fined for not recycling correctly in recent years. When the DPW catches them, a warning is issued before fines are imposed.
Private haulers need more compliance
The state regulates private haulers who take garbage from dumpsters at apartment complexes, businesses or other properties. Recycling coordinators, which the state mandates every town to have, receive reports from these private sanitation companies every year and the amount of material they recycle is applied to recycling tonnage grants, moneys the town receives from the state for the amount of materials it recycles.
Sanitation companies pick up various recyclable materials from south Bergen properties and make a report to the town on how much they collected. This number is factored in to the total tonnage of recycled materials collected in a town. LaGala acknowledges that there might be mistakes here and there, but the detailed reports received from private haulers demonstrate at least some compliance.
Rutherford recycles appliances
An area where Rutherford residents have already pitched in is electronic waste. Rutherford breaks from other area communities by picking up "e-waste" on Wednesdays. Every few months, Lyndhurst conducts a town-wide recycling drop off for electronic waste. All electronic equipment from television sets to toasters can be dropped off at Lincoln School at Ridge Road and Valley Brook Avenue on selected Saturday afternoons throughout the year. The next one will be after Labor Day, according to Rosa.
Past efforts have been successful as Lyndhurst residents look for a place to put their bulky computers and TV sets in the age of flat screen TVs and laptops. If a resident cannot drop it off, DPW workers will pick it up at their homes.
Copper bandits
The rising cost of recyclable materials has led some to take recyclables from the curb. As any recycling coordinator will tell you, this is stealing. The cost of metal is at an all time high and while many residents mix aluminum cans and plastic bottles in the same containers, the ones who do not might see someone take their cans in the middle of the night. "Metal is definitely being taken before we get there," said Del Vecchio.
Trucks of people cruise around the borough at night seeking anything metal: bed frames, dressers, light fixtures and chairs. Del Vecchio said people have clipped and stripped electrical cords to retrieve the copper.
Towns rake in thousands of dollars annually, money which is applied to municipal budgets, so while residents might applaud metal bandits for getting rid of their trash, the thefts could affect their property taxes.
Vince Rosa has notified the police department about curbside thefts of recyclable materials. To date, the police have not caught anyone riding around and taking materials during recycling periods, but Rosa said he hopes to catch them. "We could throw the book at them if we do," he added.
People stealing recyclable materials from curbsides in Lyndhurst can be fined $1,000. Rosa wants residents to take down the license plate numbers of the thieves and the police will take care of the rest.
LaGala has also noticed an increase in incidents of recyclable materials being stolen from curbsides in East Rutherford, particularly metal. "The markets are high on a lot of recyclables," he said.
Food waste could be next recyclable
Another trend in the sanitation industry that is garnering attention from the state and area municipalities is the disposal of food waste. The head custodian from the Rutherford School System attended a lecture from a Montclair State University professor who helped implement a food waste program at the college that has reduced kitchen scrap waste to zero by composting.
The price of disposing garbage in a landfill is $84 a ton and food waste, mostly composed of water, is heavy, said Del Vecchio. She suggests the construction of a food waste processing plant in the Meadowlands, which she feels would be a perfect location to get the ball rolling on turning trash into energy in south Bergen. "If we do it right, it would be a tremendous advantage educationally, financially and environmentally," she said.
In the future, Lyndhurst will focus on collecting food waste from restaurants and supermarkets so it can be properly recycled.
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Kurr
1000+ Penny Miser Member
2906 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 07:13:46
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Recycling IMHO should NOT be mandated. There's too much putting the city/state/federal/community/global/environmental needs above individual rights, right now.
Mandatory means it will be enforced at the barrel of a gun, sure you may only get a fine, but you could also get jailtime, either way a man with a gun and a uniform will be involved.
Recycling on mandated programs takes away the individuals right to decide. Should I hoard these cans or sell, or wire, or etc etc. It takes away your right to decide what to do with your private property.
Mandatory also forces the profits of the recycling into the hands of the select(lol, has haliburton started a recycling sub department yet)? And in many places it has been noted that the trucks pick up the "recycle containers" and then they end up IN THE SAME PLACE WITH THE GARBAGE even tho you pay fees for the "recycling". And whenever you have new revenue generating contracts and poloticians awarding contracts that the public must pay, you have a tremendous oppertunity to introduce more corruption into the process.
I am against mandatory recycling, charging fees to remove profitable materials, and Government Mandated companies being used as a revenue stream for the governments rather than a service to citizens. How about maybe a financial return to the local participating communities based upon recycle sales if it is a city or county program, profits to the people, as it was their materials? Private company would be just a private company with no returns to public.
I am in favor of citizens volunteering or forming local community Private Business to profit off the waste stream. Not the authorities using global waste issues to beat us to death with new fees and taxes, and nickel and dime us farther into debt with their special garbage bags and container fees you have to buy for pickups and such, on a program you didn't want to join anyway.
That's my opinion.  |
The silver [is] mine, and the gold [is] mine, saith the LORD of hosts. Hag 2:8 [/b]
He created it. He controls it. He gave it to us for His use. Why did we turn from sound scriptural currency that PROTECTS us?
KJV Bible w/ Strong's Concordance: http://www.blueletterbible.org/
The book of The Hundreds: http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/boh/bookOfTheHundreds_v4.1.pdf
The Two Republics: http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/docs/THE_TWO_REPUBLICS.pdf
Good reading: http://ecclesia.org/truth/government.html
A number of people are educated beyond, sometimes way beyond, their intelligence. - Tenbears
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Bluegill
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1964 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 07:33:00
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Well said Kurr. Everytime I hear "mandated" the first thing that comes to mind is corruption and cronyism. Everyody will benefit but the People...
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Tourney64
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1035 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 11:29:14
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I think it should be voluntary. If someone doesn't want to participate in recyling, then they should pay more for regular trash. Pay per bag or only the city's trash bags that have the city color or have a city sticker on them will be picked up. The more bags of trash you generate, the more you pay. If you recycle, then you will have less trash going to the landfill and the amount of regular trash will be lower.
I used to live in Midland MI, and it was not mandated but there was a very high percentage of recycling. You also had to put any yard waste in brown paper sacks and buy stickers for 25 cents for each bag of yard waste. It was beneficial because down the road we didn't have to pay as much for expanding or finding a new landfill. Trash service was included as part of the city tax bills.
In the Indianapolis area we have recycling offered to us, but we have to pay more to participate. It seems wrong that you have to pay. Very little participation, however everyone will have to pay in the long-term. Trash service is not paid thru the city tax bills where I live now. |
Edited by - Tourney64 on 07/16/2008 11:33:14 |
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Kurr
1000+ Penny Miser Member
2906 Posts |
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redneck
1000+ Penny Miser Member
1273 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 14:57:48
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quote:
Recycling IMHO should NOT be mandated. There's too much putting the city/state/federal/community/global/environmental needs above individual rights, right now.
Mandatory means it will be enforced at the barrel of a gun, sure you may only get a fine, but you could also get jailtime, either way a man with a gun and a uniform will be involved.
Recycling on mandated programs takes away the individuals right to decide. Should I hoard these cans or sell, or wire, or etc etc. It takes away your right to decide what to do with your private property.
Mandatory also forces the profits of the recycling into the hands of the select(lol, has haliburton started a recycling sub department yet)? And in many places it has been noted that the trucks pick up the "recycle containers" and then they end up IN THE SAME PLACE WITH THE GARBAGE even tho you pay fees for the "recycling". And whenever you have new revenue generating contracts and poloticians awarding contracts that the public must pay, you have a tremendous oppertunity to introduce more corruption into the process.
I am against mandatory recycling, charging fees to remove profitable materials, and Government Mandated companies being used as a revenue stream for the governments rather than a service to citizens. How about maybe a financial return to the local participating communities based upon recycle sales if it is a city or county program, profits to the people, as it was their materials? Private company would be just a private company with no returns to public.
I am in favor of citizens volunteering or forming local community Private Business to profit off the waste stream. Not the authorities using global waste issues to beat us to death with new fees and taxes, and nickel and dime us farther into debt with their special garbage bags and container fees you have to buy for pickups and such, on a program you didn't want to join anyway.
That's my opinion.
I don't know who PI$$ED in your corn flakes this morning but
was a Excellent response...!!!
quote:
(lol, has haliburton started a recycling sub department yet)?
Shhh...don't give them anymore ideas.lol
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swusc
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
553 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2008 : 21:31:58
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I dont know if force is a good way of putting it. Maybe trash should be separated if you want to use a public landfill. If you don't want to put trash into the public landfill, then you should be able to do what you want. It is your stuff until you give it to the city/county. If they want it given to them in lot by type, then I think that is fair.
-SWUSC |
`Everybody is ignorant. Only on different subjects.' Will Rogers
"This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the "hidden" confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard." Alan Greenspan, 1966. |
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tyoon21
Penny Sorter Member
52 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2008 : 06:37:32
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I don't think recycling should be mandated however there should be incentives for recycling. I know some counties will offset the cost of trash removal with recycling income. A reduction in taxes would be enough incentive for me to start recycling more.
I think the best system is utilized by some counties in Florida. They take all the trash that was set for the landfill and dump it in local prisons to hand sort. Keeps the prisoners busy and helps the environment at the same time. Makes sense to me.
Anytime a city starts to "mandate" something it just seems like another way to raise taxes. Which quite honestly, I am freaking sick of paying taxes...but that is a whole other topic in its own. |
Take this job and shove it. I don't want to work here no more... |
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fb101
Administrator
USA
2856 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2008 : 11:21:56
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I also would not go mandatory, but I recycle. Outside of the obvious stated so well above, (guns...) My problem with recycling is keeping the stuff in the meantime. I don't take part in recycling my yard waste because there's only 4 times per year I can put it out. I have a lot of trees and shrubs, and I could easily have to sit on 20 filled 25 gallon PAPER bags between pickups. - Those paper bags I get have a tendency to disintegrate when left out in the rain for a while. So what do I do? I put them in with the trash. Same for computer parts - Anyone have a spare room available to keep old computer, phone, printers, etc? That's a twice a year droppoff time.
Where would I put that? Also, |
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Flbandit
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
851 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2008 : 10:10:51
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| Yeah, I have a pile of yard trash right now. The county has told me twice they would pick it up, but it's still there. Next weekend I start burning it. (I live in the county, so it is legal) |
Are you throwing that out? |
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Recycling - Should it be mandated?
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