Town Will Monitor Homeowner and Business Recycling
Starting in September, Maplewood will get stricter about enforcement.
Maplewood is about to crack down on recycling.
Beginning Sept. 1, if trash haulers find recyclables mixed in with regular garbage, they will tag the bags with a sticker and refuse to collect them, said Public Works Director Erik Burbank.
“If they hear certain sounds when they pick up a bag, or a bag seems especially heavy, they can cut it open,” said Burbank. The town’s new recycling consultant, Birdsall Service Group, will spot check residential garbage pick-ups to ensure that haulers are complying with the new regulation.
Birdsall will meet with representatives from Waste Management and Waste Industries to brief them on the regulations. The waste companies face fines for non-compliance.
“We do a pretty good job with recycling, but there is always room for improvement,” said Burbank.
The consultants also will meet with local businesses to show them how they can increase recycling. “If they can reduce their garbage by half, they can renegotiate their contract with the garbage company and reduce their costs,” said Burbank. It costs roughly twice as much to have garbage hauled as it does for recycling; in addition, business owners and residents can bring their own recycling to the Recycling Center for free.
For example, Burbank said two years ago he helped the owner of Maplewood Pizzeria increase his annual recycling. “He has cut way back on garbage,” said Burbank.
Also, the township receives state grant money each year based in part on the amount of recycling it collects.
As part of its contract with the town, Birdsall will also visit schools to educate students about the benefits of recycling.
The Township provides curbside pick up of recyclables every other Monday for the entire town. The recycling center, at 359 Boyden Ave., is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Burbank said that increasing the amount we recycle is simply a matter of rethinking habits. His entire family of five produces just one bag of garbage every week – and 4-5 cans of recycling.
How do they do it? “There is nothing we don’t recycle,” he said. “It can be done.”
Clawson Architects, LLC
10:53 am on Saturday, August 11, 2012
Can you do a report on recycling specifics like:
Can a pizza box that is soiled be recycled?
Can "waxed" milk boxes be recycled?
Carolyn Maynard-Parisi
1:32 pm on Saturday, August 11, 2012
That's a great idea for a follow-up article. I'll find out the info.
Carolyn
Your Name Here
12:08 pm on Saturday, August 11, 2012
"His entire family of five produces just one bag of garbage every week – and 4-5 cans of recycling."
So we should have 8-10 cans of recycling sitting around over two weeks? Where would we put that? Why don't we have weekly recycling pickups -- that would help encourage people to recycle.
kent
5:00 pm on Saturday, August 11, 2012
Does the Town wide recycling every other Monday include Businesses ?
Irene Langlois
8:44 am on Sunday, August 12, 2012
Yes, please do a follow-up article on what can be recycled. I think it would be very helpful because the items that are accepted curbside and at the recycling center have changed over the years. For example, can we still bring Styrofoam to the recycling center?
Jim McNeely
5:10 pm on Sunday, August 12, 2012
Yes, a follow-up article would be great! We just moved to Maplewood. I'm curious to know about the blue New York Times plastic bags? plastic grocery bags? other annoying little plastic bags like the ones that every part of my new phone was wrapped in? Sometimes an item will have the recycling symbol on it, but it won't be accepted.
julien
6:19 pm on Sunday, August 12, 2012
In all fairness to the head guy at dpw. Who I think is the greatest. The town should push back the monitering until october since a lot of maplewood citizens are away for the month of august. A well informed community is an efficent community.
Just Me
10:03 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
We do a pretty good job of recycling but this is bothersome. Is there some kind of law that mandates recycling? If I forget and throw something away someone can have my garbage not picked up?
My street is a mess and hasn't seen any repairs in over 20 years, the curbs, where they still exist, are unsightly, township trees are destroying the sidewalks, my taxes have quadrupled since I bought my home and the services have shrunk.
And garbage is what the TC thinks is important?