THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9606280229
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 184 lines
ON MONDAY, THE CITY WILL officially end its participation in curbside recycling, concluding a seven-year program overseen by the Southeastern Public Service Authority.
The decision to stop curbside pickup of recyclable glass, plastic, paper and metal put the city in the unenviable position of having to justify a move seen by many residents as anti-environmental.
It was an ironic turn of events for a city that has lead the commonwealth in recycling efforts, having been the first South Hampton Roads community to initiate widespread recycling.
In an effort to explain what environmentally conscious residents are supposed to do, the following questions and answers are intended to help readers carry on the tradition.
Some of the questions were provided by the city, some by The Beacon. All answers were provided by the Virginia Beach Department of Public Works, Waste Management Division.
Q: Why is the city discontinuing the curbside service to its residents?
A. The city of Virginia Beach is discontinuing this service because SPSA levied a new $1 per household per month fee for curbside service, later reduced to 50 cents. The charge originally would have cost the city $1.3 million per year, and under the revised schedule $672,000 per year. Neither amount was included in the city's existing operating budget.
The proposed fee, which SPSA has since imposed on other South Hampton Roads cities, would have placed a disproportionate share of the recycling fee on Virginia Beach residents. The city already pays SPSA about $8 million per year to provide an integrated waste management system that includes curbside recycling. The city attorney believes that SPSA has no authority to impose a recycling fee.
City officials also contend that SPSA's method of collecting recyclables, using specially designed trucks that are filled up manually, is outdated, labor and capital intensive, causes litter to blow throughout neighborhoods and does not collect many common materials such as colored glass, cardboard and many grades of everyday household plastic.
Q: What alternative service will the city provide for its citizens and what is the cost?
A: There are now 78 sites at public schools that accept all types of paper. The city expanded its existing 22 ``drop-off'' sites that take paper, metals and plastics to 50 sites, some of which are located at schools. Each of these sites will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The familiar ``igloos'' that now occupy drop-off sites were replaced with larger metal containers that have larger openings in them. This will allow residents to deposit a whole bag of recyclables at once, an improvement over the current containers that allow only one recyclable container at a time to be deposited.
Each site will collect newspapers, cardboard boxes, junk mail, classroom and office-grade paper, all grades of plastic, magazines, telephone books, clear, green and brown glass, aluminum and steel cans.
The cost of this service is about $200,000 per year, or 15 percent of the cost of curbside recycling.
Q: What should I do with the blue box?
A: Keep it and use it to carry recyclables to the drop-off centers. There is no announced plan by SPSA to take back the boxes.
Q: I have used the drop-off centers before and they were always full. What is being done to address this?
A: The city's expanded drop-off centers will use larger containers and will be maintained seven days a week. If necessary, they will be serviced daily.
Q: Do I have to drive to more than one location to recycle everything?
A: No. There will be 50 drop-off centers that will be designed to handle all types of recycle materials.
Q: Can the expanded drop-off centers handle the amount of material the curbside program produces?
A: Through its drop-off program, the city last year collected about 4,000 tons of recyclable material. SPSA collected about twice that, roughly 9,500 tons. With its expanded program, the city hopes to double it collection tonnage.
Q: What future plans does Virginia Beach have for curbside recycling?
A: The city is exploring a method of curbside recycling using its existing fleet of automated trash trucks to lift 65-gallon containers full of recyclables. The trucks would take the material to a materials resource recovery facility for sorting, bundling and eventual sale to the recyclable commodities markets. The containers would be similar to the 90-gallon containers now used for garbage collection. They would have lids and be placed at curbside for recovery. The frequency of collection has not been decided. The cost to buy the containers outright could be $5 million, but the city expects to pay less under a sealed bid arrangement. There is also an option to lease containers at lower cost. Residents will not be charged for the containers.
Q: What must happen for the city to commit to the 65-gallon containers?
A: The Department of Public Works has advised City Manager James K. Spore to officially let private companies know the city is interested in this idea. The proposals will be compared to figures the city has already generated to determine which is the best option for the community. The proposals will be compared to the information the city has in an effort to make a final decision. The initial decisions will be made by Spore, Wade Kyle, administrator of Public Works, Debra Devine, recycling coordinator, with final approval coming from council.
Q: Does the city make money selling recyclable material?
A: No, but the city does benefit in two ways. First it saves money on landfill costs. By spending more for recycling, the city has to dump less in the landfill. Secondly, it gains in public relations by acting on the community's desire to see that material is recycled. But making money is difficult.
The prices for recyclable material are notoriously volatile. Prices for recycled plastic, depending on its composition, have ranged from 12 cents a pound as low as 1.5 cents per pound, according to Rick Kattar, division president of CRInc, a company that sells recyclable material to manufacturers.
Last year, the price for HTPE and PET plastic hit 37 cents before dropping to 10 cents per pound for PET and 6 cents for HTPE. A mix of the two grades yielded about 3 cents per pound.
Paper is no better. White ledger grade, depending on its eventual use, can run from $120 to $200 a ton. Sometimes, newsprint goes from a negative price, in which cities have to pay to have it disposed, to $200 a ton.
Clear glass fetches from $10 to $70 a ton while brown tracks along at $45 to $50. Aluminum is among the most stable, raising 45 to 58 cents a pound, or $900 to $1,160 a ton. ILLUSTRATION: Box
DROP-OFF SITES
Drop-off sites for various types of recyclable material are
located throughout the city and most are accessible 24 hours a day.
Recycling containers for paper are located at all public schools
with the exception of Holland and College Park elementary schools.
Newspapers, magazines and glossy catalogs, chipboard, corrugated
cardboard, telephone books, brown paper bags, office paper and junk
mail can be placed in the paper recycling containers.
Here's where to find recycling containers for all the above types
of paper as well as for aluminum cans and foil, steel cans, brown,
green and clear glass bottles and jars, and all plastics grade 1
through 7 (this does include plastic bags):
Alanton Elementary School, 1441 Stephens Road
Association for Research and Enlightenment, 67th Street and
Atlantic Avenue
Bayside Elementary School, 5649 Bayside Road
Bayside High School, 4960 Haygood Road
Bayville Park, First Court Road, off Shore Drive
Birdneck Elementary School, 957 S. Birdneck Road
Blackwater Fire Station, 6009 Blackwater Road
Blackwater Park, 3390 Head of River Road
Bow Creek Recreation Center, 3427 Clubhouse Road
Brookwood Elementary School, 601 S. Lynnhaven Road
Center for Effective Learning, 233 N. Witchduck Road
Centerville Elementary School, 2201 Centerville Turnpike
Chesapeake Beach Fire Station, 2444 Pleasure House Road
City Garage Complex, 2633 Leroy Drive
Cypress Point Shopping Center, Intersection of Newtown Road and
Wesleyan Drive
Fairfield Elementary School, 5428 Providence Road
Great Neck Park, 2513 Shorehaven Drive
Green Run Fire Station, 1601 Lynnhaven Parkway
Green Run High School, 1700 Dahlia Drive
Independence Middle School, 1370 Dunston Lane
Kellam High School, 2323 Holland Road
Kempsville Recreation Center, 800 Monmouth Lane
Kingston Elementary School, 3532 King's Grant Road
Landfill, 1989 Jake Sears Road, just off Centerville Turnpike.
Hours are 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Malibu Elementary School, 3632 Edinburgh Drive
Mount Trashmore Park, 300 Edwin Drive
Munden Point Park, 2001 Pefley Lane
Municipal Center, Parking lot at James Madison Boulevard and
George Mason Drive
Oceana Fire Station, 1201 Bayne Drive
Old Donation Center for the Gifted and Talented, 1008 Ferry
Plantation Road
Pavilion, 1000 19th St.
Point O'View Elementary School, 5400 Parliament Drive
Princess Anne High School, 4400 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Princess Anne Middle School, 2509 Seaboard Road
Princess Anne Park, Princess Anne and Dam Neck roads
Princess Anne Recreation Center, 1400 Ferrell Parkway
Pungo-Blackwater Recreation Center, 922 Princess Anne Road
Red Mill Elementary School, 1860 Sandbridge Road
Red Wing Park, 1398 General Booth Blvd.
Salem Middle School, 2380 Lynnhaven Parkway
Sandbridge Beach Parking, Sandbridge Road
Seatack Elementary School, 411 Birdneck Circle
Shelton Park Elementary School, 1700 Shelton Road
Social Services Building, 3432 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Tallwood High School, 1668 Kempsville Road
Technical and Career Education School, 2925 North Landing Road
Third Police Precinct/Bayside Library, 926 Independence Blvd.
Trantwood Elementary School, 2344 Inlynnview Road
Virginia Beach SPCA, 3040 Holland Road
Woodstock Park, 5709 Providence Road. Hours are 8 a.m. to sunset.
KEYWORDS: RECYCLE VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB