THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240439
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Big changes are coming to curbside recycling in South Hampton Roads.
The Southeastern Public Service Authority announced Thursday that it has begun efforts to double its collection area in the region, from 150,000 homes to 300,000 homes, by July 31.
Basically, if you live in a single-family home in Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Southampton County or Isle of Wight County and do not participate in curbside recycling, SPSA will soon come calling.
Indeed, recycling director Joe Thomas said blue recycling bins and informational leaflets are being delivered to new service communities across the region.
At the same time, however, SPSA is reducing its recycling pickups. Beginning this week, crews will empty the trademark blue bins every other week.
The cutback, expected to save nearly $2 million, already is irking some customers who've grown accustomed to a weekly schedule that SPSA has used since curbside recycling was introduced in 1989.
``Our phones are still ringing off the hook,'' Thomas said.
Conrad Greif, chairman of the Norfolk Environmental Commission, said customers ``may feel a little miffed'' by the new schedule. But he quickly added that, in the end, the program should prove more cost-effective and reach more households.
Recycling has never been a money-maker for SPSA. Indeed, the public agency has lost money every year it has offered the environmentally conscious service. But Thomas said that, too, may be changing.
With recycling markets finally taking hold in the private sector, the price for raw materials such as old newspapers, aluminum cans, and plastic jugs and bottles has dramatically increased.
For example, SPSA estimated that it would make $300,000 this year from sales of reusable goods. But already the agency just eclipsed the $1 million mark, Thomas said.
Next year, SPSA hopes to generate $2 million in sales - almost enough to finance the $2.4 million curbside program, he said.
The surging market also has quashed a suggestion made late last year that SPSA attach a monthly recycling fee of between $1.25 and $1.50 per household, Thomas said.
``That's pretty much dead, or at least dead for now,'' he said. ``You can say it's asleep.''
The fee was discussed as part of a strategy to cut costs at SPSA, which is losing a trash war with private haulers and operators of private landfills. While those discussions continue, talk of a recycling fee has faded. MEMO: Recycling calendar on page B9
ILLUSTRATION: Color graphic by Janet Shaughnessy, Staff
A curbside primer
KEYWORDS: RECYCLABLE MATERIAL SOUTHEASTERN PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY by CNB