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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990                   TAG: 9005010126
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MARION                                LENGTH: Short

PLAN TO RECYCLE SOLID WASTE DEVELOPING

Plans for recycling solid waste are becoming more urgent for localities as new state regulations become effective in May, a regional planner says.

Localities must submit their recycling plans to the state Department of Waste Management by July 1, 1991, said Thomas Taylor, executive director of the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission. He estimated the cost of developing a regional plan at $50,000 and said it would require two people working full time for a year.

Taylor, speaking recently to the commission's executive committee, said the plan must meet a state goal for recycling at least 25 percent of solid waste on a regional basis by 1992. The percentage can vary among counties and cities within a region but must meet that average.

The Mount Rogers district covers Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Wythe, Washington and Smyth counties along with the cities of Galax and Bristol.

Taylor said the plan could involve an even larger area, possibly including two other planning districts.

The problem for most localities is how to include plan development costs in their next budgets, some of which have already been prepared for public hearings.

The committee will seek comment from localities on how to determine the cost share from each in the development plan.

Taylor said it would cost $8,000 to compile data and identify problems in an industrial recycling study, and that does not include seeking markets for the materials.

- Southwest bureau

by CNB