The County Commission says all residents should pay for the curbside program because they all share long-term landfill savings.
By WILL VAN SANT
Published September 10, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - Pressure from angry residents led the County Commission on Tuesday to seek alternative ways to pay for a controversial curbside recycling program in Spring Hill.
While promising to continue the program, which commissioners said offers significant long-term cost savings by preserving landfill space, the board ordered county staffers to develop a payment plan that places the burden of supporting the recycling effort on all residents, rather than just on those who live in the area where the service is offered.
Details are few, but the proposal could involve the county raising the annual $62.50 solid waste assessment fee that all residential property owners pay.
Not only would that provide money to run the recycling program, but it also would eliminate billing costs that the private company hired to handle the job now passes on to customers.
County attorneys and staffers are considering their options. In 60 days, they are to present the board with a solution.
About 32,000 homes in ZIP codes 34606, 34608 and 34609 are now charged $1.60 a month by the private company, Pasco-based Waste Management Inc., which picks up newspaper, steel, aluminum cans and some plastics for the county to recycle. Everyone who lives in the area must pay the fee, whether they use curbside recycling or not, which is irksome to some.
"The whole thing was stupid from the get-go," said Jack Vanston, a 77-year-old Timber Pines resident. "It's a program that's inefficient. And I have to pay extra."
Vanston, like many critics, said he is a recycling advocate, but cannot understand several aspects of the program.
Among them: Why can't glass be included in the recycling program? Why can't it be expanded to include the entire county? Most importantly, Vanston asked, why should he have to pay for curbside recycling, when he regularly is able to drop off all his recyclables, including glass, at the Winn-Dixie store on U.S. 19 without paying a dime?
The county's solid waste director, Stephanie Burkhardt, said such dropoff centers, while valuable, are not getting the job done. Not enough people use them, she said, and only by mandating recycling can the county hope to see increases in the recycling rate that will keep pace with the growing amount of garbage entering the landfill.
Further, Burkhardt said, the state requires that 30 percent of the county's garbage be recycled every year, a goal that could prove difficult to meet without a mandatory program.
The cost of expanding the program both geographically and in the number of materials that can be picked up, she said, is prohibitive. Given the logistics, Burkhardt said, it is also difficult to have a curbside program in areas of the county where garbage pickup is not mandatory.
Spring Hill has had mandatory garbage pickup since 1987.
"We are simply doing the very best we can," she said. "I'm sorry for those that disagree."
Not all in the audience were skeptics.
Ed Wahler, an Orchard Park resident and recycling supporter, pointed out that the program costs residents about 40 cents a week.
"People spend that on a can of Coke," Wahler said. "It's not a big deal."
Critics of the program have said the elderly have terrible difficulties moving recycling bins to and from the curb, especially when they are full of wet newspapers. Carts with wheels have been made available at a cost of $15 to make the job easier, but Wahler said hauling the bins is not difficult.
"I'm 74," he said, "and I'm doing it."
The county staff defended the recycling program as not only environmentally sensible, but as critical to ensuring the long-term viability of the landfill.
Solid waste operations manager Chris Lukowiak pointed to the experience of Marion and Alachua counties, which both have used up their landfill space and now must pay to have their garbage trucked elsewhere. Trucking garbage beyond county borders has cost residents millions, and the two governments millions more in lost landfill revenue, Lukowiak said.
Total costs and losses in Alachua amount to $7.5-million a year; in Marion, $9.8-million a year, Lukowiak said.
"It's crazy numbers," he said. "And these numbers are as real as it's going to get."
Since starting in ZIP 34608 in May last year and expanding to 34606 and 34609 in early July this year, Lukowiak said, the county has recycled 1,929 tons of material. While it may be six months before more concrete estimates are available, he said the program has extended the life of the current landfill pit by up to a year or more.
Constructing new pits is costly, between $5-million and $7-million, according to Burkhardt. Thanks to the recycling program, officials said, a new pit that was supposed to be built in 2004 may not be needed until 2006 or later.
Commissioners were adamant about keeping the program intact, because of the potential savings it affords, but questioned the fairness of requiring only those in the curbside recycling area to pay for the service.
County Commissioner Diane Rowden said that the long-term financial benefits of recycling are shared by all residents, and all residents should be responsible for supporting the program.
That sentiment spurred the decision to explore a new way to spread out the program's costs. Burkhardt said she would try to find a workable alternative, but knows whatever means is arrived at will not please everyone.
"I'm all for a mechanism that makes more people happy," she said. "But I don't think a perfect solution is out there."
- Will Van Sant can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com
