
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990                   TAG: 9003071953
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VINTON COUNCIL OKS MANDATORY RECYCLING

By May 1, Vinton will become the first Roanoke Valley government to require recycling of newspaper, glass, aluminum and plastic.

The recycling ordinance passed unanimously at a regular meeting of Town Council Tuesday.

All Vinton residents and business owners who receive garbage pickup from the town will be required to participate. Failure to do so after two warnings will result in criminal charges and would be considered a class-four misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $100, said Town Attorney Frank Selbe. But fines will not be assessed until six months after the program is started, he added.

Residents and business owners will be required to carry the recyclables to the curb or to an alleyway where garbage is already collected.

Those who live in multifamily dwellings will be assigned a spot. Anyone who is physically unable to place the recyclables at the curb can make special arrangements with the town.

In addition, council passed an ordinance requiring residents who currently have their garbage picked up at their houses to bring the containers to the curb or alleyway.

Town Manager George Nester said the crew that currently collects brush and lawn trimmings weekly will perform that service only on the second and fourth week of each month. During the first and third weeks, they will collect the recyclables.

Residents will be issued open plastic containers large enough to hold three paper bags. Glass, aluminum and plastic will be sorted into separate bags, and newspapers can be tucked in behind them. Residents will be asked to cover the containers with plastic bags during wet weather.

The town will purchase 3,300 of these containers, one for each of the 3,167 active accounts it serves. They will be numbered, marked and distributed free. The extras will be available at $5.81 each for those who need more than one container.

Council also will apply for two $10,500 grants from the Roanoke Regional Solid Waste Management Board. The first grant will be applied toward buying the recycling containers. The total cost for the containers will be $18,645, Selbe said.

The second grant, for which the town will not be eligible until July 1, will be used to buy a chassis for a one-ton truck that will used to collect the recyclables, Nester said.

by CNB