THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 29, 1996 TAG: 9605290452
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 65 lines
The City Council Tuesday said it would not reconsider its decision to ditch curbside recycling.
In April, the council voted to withdraw from a regional curbside recycling program because of increasing fees. Last week, the Southeastern Public Service Authority voted to cut those charges in half in response to Virginia Beach's concerns, but the council was not moved.
Although the council did not take a formal vote, all 10 members present indicated support for plans to withdraw from the curbside recycling program on June 30, at the end of the fiscal year. The new fee would have cost the city $1.3 million.
Vice Mayor W.D. Sessoms said Tuesday that Virginia Beach will spend the next year developing its own pickup program.
City officials have said the present system, where SPSA workers sort recyclables at every house, is inefficient and overpriced. They prefer a system where recyclables would be sorted at a landfill, saving workers' time and expanding the types of products that could be recycled.
A new system would allow the city to recycle telephone books, all colors of glass and most grades of plastic. A mechanical arm, like the ones that pick up regular garbage, would lift the blue bins, saving the backs of workers. And it would not cost anywhere near $1.3 million, city officials have said.
The city has set aside nearly $200,000 in next year's budget to improve drop-off recycling centers to temporarily substitute for SPSA's curbside recycling program.
Under the new fee structure, Virginia Beach residents would have paid more for the same service than residents in other Hampton Roads cities, Beach officials said.
SPSA customers in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Franklin, Suffolk, Isle of Wight, Chesapeake and Southampton County will pay 50 cents per household per month beginning in September. Franklin and Norfolk will tack the charges on to residential water bills. Other communities will absorb the added costs without tax increases.
The SPSA board had voted 4-3 in April to raise the fee to $1 per household per month. Last week, it reversed its earlier decision by a 5-2 vote. No voting member from Virginia Beach was present for the vote.
In other news Tuesday, the council decided not to take legal action against the new Brew-Thru convenience store at the Oceanfront. The council had opposed the convenience store, saying it encouraged people to drink and drive and added needlessly to the number of liquor outlets in the resort area.
In a statement released Tuesday after a closed-door meeting, the council said: ``The city will, however, continue to monitor the public safety issues related to all (Alcohol Control Board) licensees, particularly as they affect the frequency of demands for law enforcement services.''
KEYWORDS: RECYCLING by CNB