
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040266
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SYMPOSIUM COVERS RECYCLING MANDATE

Local government representatives from throughout Virginia gathered Tuesday to learn ways to deal with their new responsibility of establishing state-mandated recycling programs.

"Most of the important decisions about how we manage wastes are not made in Washington or Richmond," said Ronald Erchul, a civil engineer at the Virginia Military Institute. "They are made in places like Fincastle, Winchester and Chesterfield County."

Erchul, coordinator of the symposium on waste management and ground water protection, said the objective of getting local government officials together with researchers and representatives of business, industry and state agencies was to help them make informed decisions.

Del. S. Vance Wilkins Jr., R-Amherst, said recycling is the ultimate solution to the state's burgeoning waste disposal problem.

"I can only hope that before our landfills all fill up, our water supplies shrink, our resources dwindle and our standard of living falls, we learn to recycle," Wilkins said.

An estimated 27,000 tons per day of solid waste is produced in Virginia, 60 percent of which could be recycled, according to the state Department of Waste Management. In Virginia and elsewhere in the nation, the disposal of wastes already has resulted in extensive contamination of waterways.

By July 1, every county, city and town must demonstrate how it will meet the requirement for recycling 10 percent of its solid waste by 1991, 15 percent by 1993 and 25 percent by 1995.

The General Assembly did not specify what materials must be recycled and lets local governments design their own programs.

Harry Gregori of the state Department of Waste Management briefed the 300 conference participants on the recycling regulations adopted March 8 and said governments can be assessed fines of up to $25,000 a day for not complying with terms.

Gregori said the General Assembly, in its 1990 session, provided local governments with assistance in meeting recycling goals by authorizing them to enact ordinances requiring businesses to recycle and to require businesses and waste companies to report the amount of waste generated and managed - whether by recycling, treatment or disposal.

The legislature authorized governments to inspect trucks and ban acceptance of certain wastes from landfills or incinerators if adequate recycling efforts exist.

by CNB