Ward 1 Report - Nov. 23, 2007 - Friday, November 23, 2007
Single-Stream Recycling In Mt. RainierWe now have a single stream recyclable system and residents can now put paper, cardboard, glass and plastics in one container. This is a result of a newly renovated recycling facility in Prince Georges County that uses the latest technology to enable single stream recycling
Joe Robbins, who is a member of the newly formed Mt. Rainier Environmental Protection Board, and I visited the new Single-Stream Recycling Facility in Capitol Heights, MD. It was a fascinating visit. Joe & I learned a lot about the process of recycling in Prince Georges County.
The new facility takes all the plastics, cans, papers, cardboard, etc. and separates them in a series of steps. One process separates the cardboard from the paper. Big magnets and deflectors take the aluminum and steel cans out and put them in another section. Workers remove some of the non-recyclables such as plastic bags. Finally there are separate piles of paper, cardboard, plastics and glass that are shipped to manufacturers that re-use all the material. Aluminum cans go to Annheuser-Busch to make beer cans and plastic materials go to a Waste Management manufacturing facility that uses the material to produce its own sets of products. We were shown a t-shirt that was made out of the recyclable plastics.
The 65,000 square foot facility is owned by Prince Georges County but is operated by Waste Management Inc., a multi-management company with a market value of over $15 billion and over 400 facilities. The facility gets over 11,000 tons of recycling material a month of which 20 tons come from Mt. Rainier. 70% of the recyclables are paper products and 30% are glass and plastics.
Recycling should be a big priority for Mt. Rainier residents. Trash that is not re-cycled goes to the Browns Station Road land-fill in Upper Marlboro; PG County charges us $50 a ton to send them our trash. On the other hand, the town receives $10 a ton for the recyclable material we send to the Capitol Heights facility.
We spend over $80,000 a year by sending over 16,000 tons of trash to the land fill and we receive a measly $2,000 a year by sending only 2,000 tons of recyclable material to the Capitol Heights facility. If we could double our recyclables, we would not only help make for a greener planet but we would save $12,000.
Furthermore, we were told that the Browns Station land fill has only seven more years until it completely fills up. The number of active landfills in Maryland have decreased from 75 to 31. After Browns Station fills up we will have to send our trash to a transfer station that will transport the material to Southern Virginia or other more open areas at a considerably more cost to all of us.
Recycling makes a lot of sense.
Here is a list of what can be recycled:
Metals: cans (aluminum and steel); Aluminum pie pans
Mixed Paper/Corrugated cardboard: newspaper, magazines, catalogs, telephone books, glossy inserts and junk mail, colored paper, computer paper, paper grocery bags, envelopes, white office paper, wrapping paper, paper board, corrugated cardboard, books.
Glass: Jars and beverage containers, with out lids.
Plastic: #1 and #2 plastics containers; milk and water jugs, beverage containers and bleach bottles; no caps or lids.
Here is a list of what cannot be recycled:
Unacceptable items: margarine tubs, yogurt containers, styrofoam packing peanuts; bubble wrap; plastic wrap and bags; plastic utensils; light bulbs; broken glass, windowpanes & mirrors; motor oil & antifreeze containers, auto parts; medical waste; hazardous waste
Lids and caps of bottles and jars are trash, not recyclable
Please be careful to avoid unacceptable items. The facility allows for about 5% error, but we were told that if the percentage of non-recyclables in a load of recycling gets too high, the town will be charged instead of receiving money for the load that has been received. We saw a lawn mower and a battery that had been mistakenly sent to the facility.
Although the facility does not recycle batteries and compact fluorescent bulbs, they contain materials such as mercury that should also not go into landfill; you can drop them off at Ikea for recycling.
Community Meeting on Route 1 Development:
Stacy Mitchell, author of Big Box Swindle, will be speaking on Wed. Nov 28th at 7:30 at the Hyattsville City Hall (4210 Gallatin St.) on “Connecting Retail and Growth to Community”.
She will be addressing the following questions: As growth in the Route 1 corridor accelerates, what can we learn from other communities? What’s worked? What hasn’t? What are the best practices and planning policies? How can local government support local businesses and build vibrant communities?
Skate Board Park Update
Plans to develop a skate board park for our youth on Otis and Wells near the artist studios are moving forward. We hope to have a community meeting on Wednesday Jan 23rd where plans will be presented and there will be a chance for people in the community to comment on the park. After the community meeting the plans will be reviewed and voted on by the City Council. If everything goes according to schedule, the park should be built sometime late in 2008.
Rhode Island Ave. Development Update
At the November 20th work session, the Council discussed the operating agreement governing the partnership between Landmark Atlantic and the City that had previously been approved. While I previously voted against the partnership agreement because I did not feel it made sense, I also feel that we also should move ahead and work together to best develop Rhode Island Ave between Eastern and 33rd St. Everybody on the Council feels that the operating agreement should be revised to make sure there is a way for the town to get out of the agreement if things don’t work out. The revised agreement will be discussed and voted on at the December 4th public session.
Right now it is unclear whether Bob Holland is moving ahead with his plan for a hotel or not. The other developer, Landmark Atlantic, has sent out bids to buy the properties from the current owners. We do not know whether any of the bids have been accepted or not or whether the owners still want to sell their property to Holland.
The Council will also be discussing whether to send letters from the City to the owners of the properties encouraging them to meet with the representatives of Landmark to discuss the purchase of their properties. It also states in the letter that the City may (not will) institute an eminent domain action to take over the property for urban renewal purposes if the owners don’t sell their properties. This letter will also be discussed at the next Council meeting.
If you’re interested in what’s going on with development downtown, you should come to the December 4th meeting.
Parking Citations
The Council found out that it was not feasible to have an amnesty for those people who received $250 citations for unpaid parking tickets. The agreement with the collection agency states that the agency will receive the 40% of the full citation even if the town reduces the amount it receives. This would mean that the City would end up having to give the collection agency more money than it would receive if the tickets were reduced to the original amount.
The Council has corrected the process in the future in that people will receive a 2nd notice before the citation goes up to $120 and then to $240. The Council also decided at this time not to go after the violations for the period between August 2006 and December 2007 because second notices had not gone out to those folks. (Only those tickets between July 2003 and August 2006 were given to the collection agency.)
Other Council Actions:
1 – Final approval of pay raises for public safety officials (pay raises for other employees had been approved at a previous meeting)
2 – Final approval of two-hour parking meters at the 3300 block of Rhode Island Ave.
3 – Continued approval of the traffic barrier at 31st and Perry Sts.