Trashed: New state rules for waste disposal
Three of four households in Delaware could begin curbside recycling over the next few months as a new state law goes into effect, and private trash haulers are scrambling to get ready.
The number of Delawareans who recycle could jump more than 60 percent as the Universal Recycling Law takes effect. An estimated 10 percent to 15 percent of state residents currently recycle; that number will jump to 75 percent, or about 300,000 households, with most starting Friday, April 1 – the date the current Delaware Solid Waste Authority curbside program ends.
The dramatic increase is tied to the Universal Recycling Law passed during the last General Assembly session. Under the law, the state’s major 28 trash haulers must provide recycling to all their customers – if customers want it or not.
Single-family residences and restaurants and bars are first to comply.
DSWA will cease its curbside recycling program as of Thursday, March 31. The authority’s 50,000 customers have two pick ups remaining.
“The law said we had to stop,” said DSWA spokesman Mike Parkowski. “The private haulers will take over, offer the same service and deliver a recycling cart to all their customers.”
Parkowski said there are 324,000 households in the state, and officials estimate about 75 percent will participate in recycling.
Haulers have until Thursday, Sept. 15, to comply with the law and drop off recycling containers to single-family residential customers, although the majority will be ready by the end of March, Parkowski said. That also includes providing the service to bars and restaurants that provide on-premise sales.
Private haulers have until Jan. 1, 2013, to provide single-stream recycling collection services to multifamily residential customers and until Jan. 1, 2014, for all other commercial customers.
Sussex County towns that offer trash hauling must also provide recycling services to customers.
“Homeowners can choose to use it or choose to keep the new recycling container in the garage or basement and never use it,” Parkowski said. “People are not required to participate.”
Some private haulers, but not all, will be changing their fee structures to cover costs associated with recycling. Others have recently changed fees due to an increase in tipping fees at the state landfills. Under the law, they cannot separate the services; customers will get one bill for both.
Residents can place recyclable materials – including glass, paper, newspapers and junk mail – into the new containers without sorting them.
Parkowski said it would be impossible to implement the new law without single-stream handling.
Parkowski said about 10 percent of state residents do not have trash haulers – they take their own trash to landfills or transfer stations – so the 180 recycling centers will remain open to allow DSWA officials to assess how the law is working.
Based on usage, some centers may be closed or modified for certain materials, Parkowski said. Some centers provide drops for items not included in the single-stream recycling program, such as used oil, electronics and batteries.
Private haulers will have the option of trucking recyclables free of charge to a DSWA transfer station in Milford or marketing the materials themselves.
DSWA will continue to transfer materials to eight different material recovery facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region for sorting.
Officials are still calculating how much more material DSWA is likely to receive under the new law. The law also provided grants and low-interest loans to hauling companies to help with start-up costs of the collection program.
Implementing the program
Shannon Argo, president of Blue Hen Disposal in Georgetown and Millsboro, said his company has been providing recycling collection to 5,000 of its customers since January, but it’s too early to tell what the participation rate will be because many households are second homes. The company has more customers that are required to get started in the program.
“The people who are here are participating,” he said.
Blue Hen purchased 5,000 containers – at about $50 each – and new trucks to get the recycling program started. The company offers recycling collection every other week, using a different truck on the same day as weekly trash collection.
Argo said the intent of the program from the state perspective is to make it revenue neutral, but he said private business can’t operate that way. He said there is no doubt his drivers are taking less volume to the landfill, but the drop in actual weight – they are charged $80 a ton – is not dramatic because most recyclables tend to be light materials.
Argo, like other private hauler owners, is taking a close look at the ledger as the universal recycling program gets under way.
DNREC schedules informational meetings
Meetings in Sussex County will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, at the Lewes Library, Railroad Avenue and Adams Street, and from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, at the Western Sussex Boys & Girls Club, 310 Virginia Ave., Seaford.
