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Hello Buford, Unfortunately I don't have time for a lengthy response to your question. The short answers are: YES, there are markets, but quantity and quality of materials collected are crucial, as is location to markets. It is not wise (no pun intended) to compare a program in a rural area to a program in a big city or an area that is accessible to markets. YES, recycling costs money - taxpayer money. Diversion of materials from landfills and incinerators reduces costs and revenue can be realized by the sale of materials, but as I said above, quantity and quality are critical. While there may be curbside recycling programs that are realizing a net gain financially, (hard to believe) most are experiencing a net cost. The major benefits of recycling are global. For many local governments, faced with competing demands on shrinking budgets, it's difficult to rationalize increased LOCAL costs when the benefits are primarily GLOBAL. I'm not arguing against curbside recycling, mind you, just adding a dose of reality. Again, these are short answers. Undoubtedly you will get others and some on this listserve may even disagree with what I've said. Good luck in your efforts!! Pat Franklin PS Thanks for including our www.container-recycling.org website on your website. You might want to include our other website (www.bottlebill.org) too. We call it a Bottle Bill Resource Guide -- everything you ever wanted to know about Bottle Bills and were afraid to ask. A bottle bill would remove 70-90% of the beverage containers from the wastestream (those consumed at home AND those consumed away from home) and would reduce roadside litter by 35-70%. **************************************** Patricia Franklin Executive Director Container Recycling Institute 1911 N. Fort Myer Drive, Ste. 702 Arlington, VA 22209 TEL: 703.276.9800 FAX: 703.276.9587 EMAIL: pfranklin@no.address http://www.container-recycling.org http://www.bottlebill.info **************************************** -----Original Message----- From: Buford Hill [mailto:garbageman@no.address] Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 11:13 AM To: greenyes@no.address Subject: [greenyes] Recycling programs not cost effective Hello all, I live in Dickenson County Virginia. One of the poorest counties in the state now that the Coal business is failing. I previously worked for the County Solid Waste Department. It was my hopes that the county would implement a recycling program to enhance the curbside pick-up program that they started in 1995. I worked hard to find information and resources to present to the Board of Supervisors. They were always against it because "It would cost too much". That was 3 years ago. Recently I was appointed to a Litter Control Ordinance Review Committee. This committee was formed to make recommendations for a body of Ordinances to fight the litter throughout our county. Although we have a Solid Waste Ordinance that covers the same material presented by the county administration, they feel that they need a specialized litter ordinance. On this committee is the County Administrator, Director of Solid Waste, A Board of Supervisors member, The Litter Control Coordinator, The Litter Control Officer, Virginia General Assembly Delegate Clarence (Bud) Phillips and myself. The Commonwealth Attorney and some private citizens were asked to be there to assist in devising this Litter Control Ordinance but failed to attend. My concern is that the bureaucrats on the committee are against any type of recycling through the Solid Waste stream giving the same worn out excuse "It would cost too much". Stressing that there are no markets for the materials. Del. Phillips even stressed studies that were done by the State of Virginia that say it is NOT cost affective. Although he did not provide any documentation to back his statements. Is this the reality of Recycling? Does it cost too much to implement? Are there no markets for the materials? I need some help with this matter. If anyone has some ammunition I can fire back at them on these issues, let me know. Thank you Buford Hill Recycle, Garbage is a terrible thing to Waste. http://www.garbageman.dickensonctyva.net/ |
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