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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990                   TAG: 9005010507
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MARION                                LENGTH: Short

PLAN TO RECYCLE SOLID WASTE DEVELOPING

Plans for recycling solid waste are becoming more urgent for localities as new state regulations become effective in May, a regional planner says.

Localities must submit their recycling plans to the state Department of Waste Management by July 1, 1991, said Thomas Taylor, executive director of the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission. He estimated the cost of developing a regional plan at $50,000 and said it would require two people working full time for a year.

Taylor, speaking recently to the commission's executive committee, said the plan must meet a state goal for recycling at least 25 percent of solid waste on a regional basis by 1992. The percentage can vary among counties and cities within a region but must meet that average.

The Mount Rogers district covers Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Wythe, Washington and Smyth counties along with the cities of Galax and Bristol.

Taylor said the plan could involve an even larger area, possibly including two other planning districts.

He said reducing the amount of waste going into landfills may be easier where there has been a lot of development, since much of the waste would be tree stumps and brush - organic material that could be dumped elsewhere without problems of polluting ground water. In counties with less development, he said, more of the total volume is household garbage.

by CNB