Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990 TAG: 9003300459
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Now it's the law.
The League of Women Voters in Montgomery County on Thursday night was host at a forum on how Virginia's recycling mandates passed last year will affect citizens.
"It costs money," said James Craig, chairman of the Virginia Waste Management Board. "Recycling is expensive, for now."
Yet, with stringent landfill regulations now in place, it will cost money not to recycle. Craig said the landfill requirements, such as double liners and ground water monitoring, will cost the state $2 billion over the next 20 years.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors this week approved its first-ever dumping fee of $15 per ton at the county landfill. The county anticipates handling 83,000 tons of trash in the next fiscal year.
County public works director Tim McCoy said each bag of household garbage used to cost 1 cent to dump. Soon it will cost 12 cents.
"That's why we need to keep things out of the landfill," Craig said. State law now requires localities to recycle 10 percent of their trash by 1991, 15 percent by 1993, and 25 percent by 1995.
Blacksburg's proposed curbside recycling program for next year's budget would add $2.12 to each residential garbage bill. But public works director Adele Schirmer said the county's tipping fee has jeopardized the town's proposal.
"We are currently reviewing . . . whether town residents are willing and able to pay for both the tipping fee and a full recycling program." She said both costs would more than double the current garbage bill of $5.11 a month.
About 50 people came to the Blacksburg Municipal Building to hear a panel of local waste managers and several volunteers discuss their recycling efforts. Dozens of public schools, Virginia Tech student organizations and neighborhood groups have put together recycling programs, established collection centers and waged public education campaigns.
Hethwood resident Terry Donovan said that her community began a recycling center only three months ago and has already collected 9,000 pounds of glass. Martha Olson, recycling coordinator for Harding Avenue School, said parent volunteers raise between $30 and $70 a year, which goes toward playground improvements.
Robert Blanton, coordinator of the Montgomery County Improvement Council, said he's concerned that a tipping fee at the landfill might cause some people to dump illegally - already a problem in the county.
"Even after we had cleaned them up in 1989, these illegal dumps still exist," Blanton said.
The council is asking local judges to consider stiffer fines for littering and illegal dumping, more community service sentences and perhaps even forcing offenders to wear a T-shirt that says "I'm a litterbug," he said.
But simply collecting recyclable materials is not enough, said James Sorenson, chairman of the council's recycling committee. He told the audience that the three arrows in the familiar recycling symbol stand for collection, processing and reuse.
"We first need to develop markets. Until that happens, we're just going to collect a lot of stuff . . . " he said.
Craig said the Department of Waste Management staff is "trying desperately" to develop markets, working with other departments and states daily.
He also said that source reduction tops the list of the agency's waste management priorities.
"The best way to respond to the producer is to not buy his product if you don't like the way he packages it," he said.
by CNB