Tuesday, June 30, 2009

QRS Officials Say St. L County Sent Bins for Recycling

Officials from QRS Recycling say St. Louis County sent the recycling bins to them which were purchased last year to be "recycled." They could not provide a count on the number of bins delivered.

While the trash services provided under the county's program initiated last year are working satisfactorily, there are more than 300 subdivisions who opted out of the program mainly due to the politics involved. The result has been at least two lawsuits - still in the courts - with threat of more to come.

When major changes are initiated, there's a certain element of people who just accept the change. But there are others who say they just "smell a rat." That seems to be the case with the County's trash program. Some things just don't seem to mesh.

One concern is that no local trash companies were selected to provide services to county residents. Is this a big problem today? Could it be a big problem tomorrow? Many say yes and voted to keep their business with the local providers.

It's been estimated St. Louis County has spent into the millions of dollars in manpower, supplies, travel, printing, postage and more in getting the program off the ground . . . and it's not there yet.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:33 PM

    We admit it: we recycle! In fact, the Saint Louis County Solid Waste Management Program recycles as much of its waste as possible … just like we recommend everyone else should do. The recycling carts pictured in the article above are carts that were damaged beyond repair. They are all covered under the warranty we have with the manufacturer and, therefore, will be replaced – at no additional cost to the county or its taxpayers.

    In 2008, the Saint Louis County Department of Health distributed over 104,000 black recycling carts to residents of unincorporated Saint Louis County. Of those, 45 were so badly damaged that they could not be used. The manufacturer didn’t want them back, so we decided to recycle them (they are made from #2 plastic and contain 50% recycled content to boot). We removed any usable parts and transported the rest to QRS.

    Also seen in the picture are some compost bins that were also damaged beyond repair. We decided to recycle these as well (they are also made from #2 plastic and contain up to 50% recycled content). Earlier this year, our program held three free compost bin giveaway events. What can be seen in the picture are those compost bins too damaged to be given away or used.

    As a result of our decision to recycle these otherwise unusable items, there will be less waste in our local landfills. We not only admit to making this decision – we are proud of it because recycling is the right thing to do.

    Since the start of the new recycling program in Saint Louis County, recycling is up dramatically. So thank you Saint Louis County residents for choosing to recycle!

    Yours for a better environment,

    John W. Haasis,
    Manager, Solid Waste Management Program
    Saint Louis County Department of Health

    ReplyDelete
  2. We admit it: we recycle! In fact, the Saint Louis County Solid Waste Management Program recycles as much of its waste as possible … just like we recommend everyone else should do. The recycling carts pictured in the article above are carts that were damaged beyond repair. They are all covered under the warranty we have with the manufacturer and, therefore, will be replaced – at no additional cost to the county or its taxpayers.

    In 2008, the Saint Louis County Department of Health distributed over 104,000 black recycling carts to residents of unincorporated Saint Louis County. Of those, 45 were so badly damaged that they could not be used. The manufacturer didn’t want them back, so we decided to recycle them (they are made from #2 plastic and contain 50% recycled content to boot). We removed any usable parts and transported the rest to QRS.

    Also seen in the picture are some compost bins that were also damaged beyond repair. We decided to recycle these as well (they are also made from #2 plastic and contain up to 50% recycled content). Earlier this year, our program held three free compost bin giveaway events. What can be seen in the picture are those compost bins too damaged to be given away or used.

    As a result of our decision to recycle these otherwise unusable items, there will be less waste in our local landfills. We not only admit to making this decision – we are proud of it because recycling is the right thing to do.

    Since the start of the new recycling program in Saint Louis County, recycling is up dramatically. So thank you Saint Louis County residents for choosing to recycle!

    Yours for a better environment,

    John W. Haasis,
    Manager, Solid Waste Management Program
    Saint Louis County Department of Health

    ReplyDelete