Increasing recycling in Carroll may hinge on trash haulers? willingness to identify residents responsible for the county?s low rate, officials said.
At a public forum among commissioners, public works officials and members of the Environmental Advisory Council on Tuesday night officials vowed to meet residents? renewed demands for increasing recycling.
Vince Dipietro, a Sykesville resident, called for financial penalties to encourage more recycling.
“Why are you not taxing the 70 to 80 percent of lazy people in this county who will not recycle?” Dipietro asked. “Call it the ?I-will-not-recycle tax.? ”
The county?s 27 percent recycling rate is among the lowest in the state, but commissioners have vowed to increase that.
Commissioner Julia Gouge said she hoped to target residents who do not recycle, but the county first needs to work with trash haulers to identify the culprits.
But trash companies have traditionally been stubborn and secretive with the county, she said.
“If there was a conflict between the drug dealers and the trash dealers, I?m not sure who?d come out on top,”said David Pyatt, a commissioner-appointed environmental panel member who opposes a proposed incinerator. “It?s a tough business, but we somehow need to crack through that.”
Gene Hejmanowski, environmental director of Penn Township, Hanover, Pa., lauded a “pay-per-throw” program he launched there, charging residents more if they throw away more garbage. The town has thrown away 1,000 fewer tons of garbage while its population has doubled over the last 15 years, he said.
“Your garbage is yours, and no one can tell you what to do with it,” Hejmanowski said. “However, once you put your garbage out for collection, it?s no longer yours ? it?s mine.”
Commissioners are expected to announce a decision next week on whether to partner with Frederick County to build a $320 million waste-to-energy incinerator to burn 1,500 tons of garbage each day.
