02/11/09
Council moves closer to mandatory recycling ordinance
Mandatory recycling moved one step closer to the Cape Elizabeth law books Feb. 9 as the Town Council voted to refer the proposal to the council's ordinance subcommittee.
Making recycling mandatory was just one of the measures proposed to the council last month by the council's recycling working group, made up of several town councilors and members of the town's Recycling Committee and Public Works Director Robert Malley.
The group convened to come up with ways to enhance recycling. "And we consequently saw that waste disposal is one of the biggest, if not the biggest line items in the budget," said Town Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta, who chaired the working group.
To further support mandatory recycling, the council also directed Town Manager Michael McGovern to include in his 2009-2010 budget proposal a Recycling Center staff person to help educate and assist users with recycling.
The council's directions came after a public hearing on several of the working group's recommendations Feb. 9, 2009. One of those recommendations, to reduce hours at the Recycling Center, was approved by the council in January.
Speakers at the hearing lauded the suggestions, but questioned the group's recommendation to supplement existing educational strategies by having a staff person at the Recycling Center ready to help citizens with recycling. "This person would monitor what is being placed in the hopper and would provide educational guidance and materials to persons visiting the site," according to the report submitted by the working group.
Richard Dunham, Ocean View Road, said the council should provide more detail to what will be expected of that staff person. "Is that person going to be a policeman, or an educator?" Dunham said. A more detailed job description would mean increased possibility of more recycling,"not just $27,000 of additional (salary and benefits) expense," he said.
Another speaker, Ocean House Road resident Carl Dittrich, said he believed recycling education does not start at the Recycling Center, but at home.
"It's sad to see what goes into the hopper, it's amazing," Dittrich said. "How is someone going to police that?" He said he believed enhanced education would need to be an all-out blitz. "Unless there's a financial burden or a penalty, people aren't going to change their ways," he said.
The recycling working group's recommendations did not include a pay-per-bag fee for waste disposal. While pay-per-bag would save an estimated $19,000 in disposal costs, the group saw it as a transfer of costs from the taxpayers to the users, Swift-Kayatta said.
The extended staff position and job description will be considered as a budget recommendation for 2009-2010. The ordinance committee will look at a model ordinance from ecomaine, the regional waste facility used by Cape Elizabeth.
Michael McGovern, the town manager, said he hoped residents develop good habits quickly, since the town is facing a $180 per ton cost to dispose of wasted, compared to a $38 per ton cost to recycle. "There's a huge financial difference," McGovern said.
Councilor Paul McKenney, who has spearheaded the town's emphasis on recycling, said Cape Elizabeth lags behind other communities that are part of the ecomaine system, largely because the town does not offer curbside pickup. "I think education, if it's done properly and implemented well, can have a significant impact on the recycling rates," he said. McKenney also called for close work with the School Department in promoting recycling. "Parents tend to listen to their children," he said.
A third recommendation, to monitor non-mechanized commercial haulers at the Recycling Center to be sure they are serving Cape Elizabeth residents, was also approved.
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