THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607170005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Another View
SOURCE: By DURWOOD S. CURLING
LENGTH: 53 lines
Recently there has been considerable information provided through The Virginian-Pilot pertaining to the Southeastern Public Service Authority's curbside-recycling-collection program and participation by the city of Virginia Beach in this program. Some of the information provided has been accurate, but a considerable amount has been inaccurate.
The inaccuracies have centered around the question of whether the SPSA program is as efficient as it could be. Like many other questions, the answer to this depends upon who is doing the answering and the biases of the person doing the answering. One thing that we at SPSA do know is that when the cost of SPSA's curbside-recycling collection program is compared to other programs in Virginia, SPSA's costs have been far below what other Virginia communities have been paying for similar programs.
For the 12-month period May 1995 through April 1996, SPSA's cost has been 54 cents per home served per month. This compared very favorably with Newport News at $1.71; Hampton, York County and Williamsburg at $1.69; and Richmond at $1.01 per month per home served for the same period.
When SPSA first began curbside recycling in 1989, we chose to sort the materials at the curb. This enabled us to produce a very high-quality product that we were able to sell to help offset the cost of collecting. In a recent 12-month period, SPSA received $1,131,000 for the material collected in its curbside program alone.
While it is true that sorting curbside requires more manpower on the street, that additional cost needs to be compared to the cost of sorting at a central location and decreased revenue before which system is best can be determined. Recent studies by the Department of Environmental Protection in Florida found curbside separation to be less expensive or at least competitively priced with central sorting systems in Florida's 10 largest cities.
In our case, SPSA determined in 1993 that a centrally sorted system would save money. SPSA has on hand funds to construct such a facility but has delayed doing so at the request of Virginia Beach and others in order to attempt to negotiate a contract to provide this service with a private area firm that has such a facility. It is ironic that SPSA is now being criticized for not having such a facility.
SPSA's curbside recycling program is a well-conceived, environmentally sound program that does not mislead citizens as to what is being recycled. It compares very favorably from both financial and environmental standpoints with any other curbside-recycling-collection program in the nation.
But recycling can't be about just money. It has to have a higher purpose. It must serve to conserve our natural resources. If economics alone were to determine whether to recycle, there would be no curbside-recycling collection in this country.
KEYWORDS: OPINION by CNB