Saturday, May 24, 2008

County's recycling effort helps environment and saves money

Letters to the Editor, St. L Post-Dispatch, May 24, 2008

St. Louis County is committed to the environment. The County Council's amendment to the Solid Waste Code requires trash haulers to provide curbside recycling. The county distributed 100,000 single-stream recycling bins so that more than 300,000 county residents can recycle material that would otherwise be put in landfills. St. Louis County is proud of its leadership role in stimulating greater levels of recycling. The county is not profiting from this program; the benefit comes from conserving scarce landfill space, reducing our dependence on oil and conserving vital strategic resources. Consolidating trash districts will help us reduce truck traffic on our streets, improve the quality of life in our unincorporated communities and reduce the number of properties that don't have trash service, reducing the likelihood of illegal dumping.

For several years, recycling has been a voluntary effort with too little participation to make a difference in the volume of trash entering landfills. The state has mandated that St. Louis County residents reduce the amount of trash being sent to our landfills by half before 2010. So we must increase our recycling volume. This easily can be achieved by through single-stream, curbside recycling; however, hauler participation cannot be optional. Everyone who generates trash must help manage trash effectively.

Private-sector profit is part and parcel of America's economic engine. If trash haulers and recycling centers can benefit financially from recycling, it proves that the free market is alive and well in America's heartland. Benefits will be reflected in hauling rates throughout unincorporated St. Louis County, just as it has already in our Trash District 3, going into service July 1. Residents in this northwest county district will pay $11.60 a month for the first year of full-service residential trash disposal, including once-a-week curbside collection of residential trash and single-stream recycling as well as twice-a-year bulky item pick-up. The low price is partly because of the value of the materials being recycled.

Apparent low bids for the next three districts range from $12.09 to $12.40 per month. The price for senior citizens would be between $10.88 and $11.16 per month. Bids for the remaining districts will be opened later this month.

Recycling is a personal choice. While we encourage it and support it, we understand that many residents ultimately will choose not to participate. I hope that all residents will, in time, embrace St. Louis County's efforts to be more responsible with our environment.

. . . Garry W. Earls Clayton
Chief Operating Officer, St. Louis County Government

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:43 PM

    Would you expect Garry Earls to say anything else. This is his program.
    Just big government telling us little people how to live, what to do, how to spend our money, etc.
    Give me a break.

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  2. Anonymous12:47 PM

    I wonder how many people would take the time to respond to Mr. Earls' comments. Here's your chance.

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  3. Anonymous1:26 PM

    My time is to valuable to leave a comment on Mr. Earls BS column. I hope someone somewhere finds out where and who is getting all of the money for pushing this project.

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  4. Anonymous11:00 PM

    Show me the money. Something's rotten here.

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  5. Anonymous9:11 AM

    And, you’re also right that your wife’s friend is in for a big surprise, along with many hundreds more. It’s interesting to note that most of the opposition started among the people in South County because that area has half of the trash districts, yet many of the people in South County are still confused. Since that’s the case, this issue can only get more confusing when the county sends out their letter to all residents of unincorporated St. Louis County. That will set off another round of confusion. But, I think the big bang is going to come when the residents in all of the trash districts in subdivisions that did not opt out or could not opt out get their notice that they must use the county designated trash hauler for their respective districts. That’s when it’s going to hit the fan! As the summer heats up, so does the county trash fiasco.

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  6. Anonymous1:20 PM

    In the Wentzville Journal dated May 25, 2008 in the "your voice online" section is an article titled "trash regulations should be scrapped". St. Charles County is looking to do the same screw job to their residence as St. Louis County is doing to theirs! One comment in this article really stood out - the comment was
    "THE COUNTY SHOULD NOT REGULATE WASTE HAULING. COMPETITION AND THE ABILITY TO SWITCH HAULERS KEEPS PRICES LOW AND SERVICE LEVELS HIGH. IF REDUCED TRAFFIC IS THE GOAL, PERHAPS WE SHOULD ALLOW FEDEX, MACY'S HEATING AND COOLING COMPANIES AND OTHERS TO ONLY HAVE A DESIGNATED DAY FOR DELIVERIES AND SERVICE TOO. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD KEEP OUT AND LET THE MARKETPLACE FUNCTION."
    Amen brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    How many times a day do you have some sort of truck coming down your street, excluding the trash companies???????

    The real sad part to all of this, is the people out there that are complaining about these trash trucks on their streets, if it weren't for them who would remove your stinky messes? Maybe they are the ones that should go out there and work for a trash company for a week or two, maybe then they would be better able to understand just how it REALLY works!
    One last bit of info with regard to the number of times the trash truck is on your street - once for trash + once for recycle + once for yard waste = 3 times a week. So what are you really complaining about?

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