THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607190191
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 37 lines
New recycling program overloaded
I've just returned home from a recycling run here in the Haygood area, and I would like for our esteemed council members to know what I encountered.
My first stop was the recycling center in the Cypress Point Shopping Center at the corner of Wesleyan Drive and Diamond Springs Road. The sign was there, but the collection receptacle was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was a pile of cardboard on the ground beneath the sign.
My second stop was in the parking lot of Bayside High School. After maneuvering through the summer school traffic I was able to unload my cans and bottles by carrying them around to the opposite side of the bin from where I was able to park. The newspaper section of the receptacle was another matter. There wasn't room for an envelope much less the newspaper I had in the back of my van.
My third stop was the parking lot of Old Donation School for the Gifted. I knew their bin only accepted paper and cardboard, which is what I still had; I did not know that it, too, would be filled to overflow.
My fourth stop was the parking lot of Thoroughgood Elementary School. Last week, it had a full service brown bin. This week it has the white, paper and cardboard only, receptacle and I know you'll find this hard to believe, but it was also filled to capacity. Lined up on the ground in front of it were several bags and boxes of paper and cardboard. I admitted defeat and went home.
To my dear City Council members, let me say this:
I am a dedicated recycler. . . . I'll try again, but I expect the average citizen will just say ``the heck with it'' and dump everything in the trash. The money you saved by canceling curbside recycling will have to be used to hire more garbage collectors. You'll need 'em.
Dorothy M. Amos
July 8 by CNB