EMMITSBURG,
Md. – Blue recycling bins on a Friday morning sit along
the back alleys and the sidewalks of Emmitsburg. As the sun
rises, blue bins can be spotted here and there, but no one
could claim that the town's streets are a sea of blue Friday
mornings. In some areas, several houses in a row sport the
bins piled high with cans, bottles, plastic and bundles with
newspaper and cardboard. Then you can pass eight or ten homes
in a row without a bin in sight.
An
unscientific survey of the town's recycling during the last
collection day in September showed that neighborhoods with
the greatest percentage of recycling to the least were:
Frailey Road, Northgate, Pembrook Woods, East and West Lincoln,
Brookfield, DePaul, North Seton, Emmit Gardens, Silo Hill,
Welty and Southgate.
While
there are many factors that can affect a neighborhood recycling
rate, by taking advantage of recycling, residents can help
lower the cost of their quarterly garbage bill. A residential
garbage bill is partially based on a tipping fee, a charge
billed to the town based on how much garbage is hauled to
Frederick. When Emmitsburg is charged the tipping fee, it
is divided by the number of households in town and added
to the $31 per quarter trash fee.
Over
the last two years, the tipping fee per customer has ranged
from a low of $11.47 to a high of $18.31. The overall tipping
fee at the Frederick County Landfill increased from $59
per ton to $71 per ton on July 1, so the per-household tipping
fee will increase as well.
One
neighborhood that should soon get a chance to "show
its stuff" is Southgate. The subdivision next to the
town office is being considered for addition to Frederick
County's Recycling Program at a meeting of the county commissioners
on Oct. 25 at 1:30 p.m. in Winchester Hall.
Lee
Campbell, a resident of Mountaineers Way in Southgate, said,
"My husband and I talked about it and we will definitely
recycle once we have the opportunity. In fact, several other
people in the neighborhood are excited about it too."
Michael
Marschner, Director, Frederick County Division of Utilities
and Solid Waste Management, believes that more residents
will recycle once single-stream recycling is implemented
in the county. This will be possible once the new transfer
station is built on Reich's Ford Road, anticipated for July
2008. The county's recycling program is also looking at
other options for increasing the recycling rate, including
supplying residents with 64-gallon totes instead of the
blue bins now in use and decreasing the number of pickups.
"We
can't keep hauling our trash out of the county. Recycling
is a vital component, along with a waste-to-energy facility,
and source reduction, of beginning to address that problem,"
Marschner said.
One
important way that businesses are contributing to source
reduction is the reusable canvas bags offered for a nominal
fee by Jubilee and donated by the Emmitsburg Business and
Professional Association at its recent Green Forum. Rich
Boyd, Jubilee Foods Manager, said he is pleased with how
many people are using the bright orange bags. Customers
like them because they stand up when packed with groceries,
they are easy to fold and store, the handles are sturdy,
the bags can hold more than the white plastic bags, and
customers receive a refund of 3 cents for every reusable
bag in which their groceries are packed. Marschner points
out that the low-grade plastic used in white grocery bags
is almost impossible to recycle and encourages use of canvas
bags.
Libby
Briggs, president of the EBPA, encourages citizens to come
to Green Forum II on Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m. at the town office.
