Finally, county gets serious about recycling

The blue bag is going the way of the Oldsmobile, VCR and super-size meals - serviceable, but now obsolete. Pasco commissioners this week gave the initial blessing to retooling their residential recycling program in an effort to bolster the collection of reusable materials and to cut the flow of waste to the overcapacity trash incinerator in Shady Hills.

The commitment, though tardy, is welcome. Near unanimous enthusiasm replaced the previous reticence. Commissioners Jack Mariano and Michael Cox have been supportive of a more aggressive recycling program all along and this week a previously skeptical staff and board majority joined them publicly.

There are plenty of details to work out, including costs, franchise agreements and whether to go with a single container or duel bins in which residents can toss glass, plastic, aluminum, metal, paper, cardboard and newspapers to be sorted later at a privately run recycling center. Still, the expected outcome will be scuttling the every-other-week collection of blue bags which drew meager participation and accommodated too few materials. (Even County Administrator John Gallagher acknowledged he didn't recycle newspapers because it was too inconvenient to drive them to collection bins.) Replacing the blue bags will be a weekly pickup of new, reusable containers that will require little, if any, sorting of recycled materials placed inside.

It is intended to increase participation and volume. There really is no alternative. For every pound of metal, aluminum, glass or plastic recycled in Pasco County, more than 125 pounds of trash is delivered to the incinerator in Shady Hills. Unfortunately, the trash-burning plant can only combust 105 pounds of that solid waste. It is why Pasco is paying to truck up to 60,000 tons of trash annually to Osceola County.

The problem will not go away entirely when a beefed up recycling program begins, county staff warned. That is understood and commissioners will be asked at some point to expand the incinerator, though the private sector is pushing a proposed landfill in east Pasco as an alternative.

But it is premature to consider long-term options before working for an immediate improvement. Curbside recycling is available to nearly 70 percent of Pasco households, yet participation via blue bags hovers near 15 percent. A pilot program in Meadow Pointe showed improved participation rate with both bins and blue bags with increased education. However, followup surveys revealed a disappointing trend among homeowners who said they wouldn't continue the blue bag recycling because of the cost of acquiring the bags.

It means public education will be a key component of the new program, particularly considering Pasco's recycling rates declined at the same time the population boomed. Blaming the state for eliminating public education grants won't cut it. Pasco needs to make recycling a priority and the action plan outlined this week is a welcome change in attitude.

[Last modified January 19, 2008, 20:27:25]