THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609120002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 46 lines
As administrator of the Waste Management Division for the city of Virginia Beach, I made the decision to dispose of newspapers in the Virginia Beach landfill. I would like to explain why I made that decision.
As a city employee, I am constantly aware of my responsibility as a steward of public funds. It's a responsibility that I take seriously. When the city's recycling contractor decided to charge to continue processing newspapers, I was in negotiations with another contractor who had expressed an interest in processing newspapers for free. These negotiations were ongoing when the initial contractor refused to process the papers without payment.
I made the decision to deliver some newspapers to the landfill as an emergency stop-gap solution, convinced that a contract to provide free processing was imminent. This decision affected only 50 tons of a total of 30,000 tons of papers that have been recycled in Virginia Beach. It did not affect any other recyclable materials.
I have been accused of trying to mislead the public. That was never my intention. My focus was on conserving public funds and offering the best value to the city's taxpayers. I overlooked the fact that the public has more than one interest in recycling, and I apologize for not fully considering the feelings of those who delivered their newspapers to the recycling centers and the commitment our community has shown to the cause of recycling.
We are currently processing some of the papers at $23 per ton through a local recycler and some of the papers at no charge with another local recycler. It's an unfortunate reality that drastic fluctuations in the market are a major hurdle for those committed to seeing recycling succeed, and it's a problem that municipalities across the nation are confronting.
We are proud of the recycling system we have in the city of Virginia Beach. Since 1989, the residents have recycled 200,000 tons of materials. This has resulted in avoided disposal costs of more than $2.5 million. In addition, we have substantially surpassed the state-mandated recycling goal each year since its inception in 1991. In 1995, the state-mandated goal was 25 percent, and we achieved a 58 percent recycling rate. Thank you to the residents of Virginia Beach for this effort. We are continuing to evaluate a better recycling system for our residents.
P. WADE KYLE, administrator
Waste Management Division
Department of Public Works
Virginia Beach, Sept. 9, 1996 by CNB