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

DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994                   TAG: 9412020058
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

USER FEE

LOCALITIES THAT have had it up to here with trash and the costs of getting rid of it should take a look at how a couple of Virginia's cities are disposing of the problem.

For the past year, neighboring Lynchburg has charged residents by the container for trash pickup, selling 95-cent stickers for 32-gallon bags, 45-cent stickers for 13-gallon bags and $50 decals for cans that are emptied once a week for a year. Charlottesville has had a similar program since 1992.

The result: both localities have seen residential waste drop significantly and recycling increase.

Lynchburg, which has no curbside recycling, has had a 37 percent increase in recyclables dropped off at its nine recycling centers, and has reduced its residential waste stream by 40 percent. With the tipping fee at its landfill now $45 a ton, those figures are not garbage. And the charge for trash disposal pays for the city's tipping fee and its recycling program.

So, more folks are just dumping their trash illegally, right? No, says a Lynchburg official. Some illegal dumping has always occurred, but neighboring counties have not noticed a significant increase. People are recycling more, composting more to handle yard waste, and trying to be less wasteful.

Some don't put out any trash at all. Lynchburg allows residents one free trip a month to the landfill to dump up to a thousand pounds of trash. So for anyone who doesn't mind hanging onto the stuff for a month and then hauling it away themselves, there's no charge. Who could trash that deal?

by CNB