Collection trucks with automated arms
will haul tons of reusable goods to a private company, Tidewater Fibre
Corp. of Chesapeake, for sorting and resale.
The Southeastern Public Service Authority , a regional waste agency, is
spending an estimated $1 million to launch the initiative. It replaces a
14-year-old program of smaller, uncovered bins that have slowly lost favor
with many in South Hampton Roads.
At a kickoff celebration Tuesday, which featured a jazz trio, political
speeches and children in T-shirts made partly from recycled plastic,
officials said the new program initially will affect about 15,000
homeowners in 28 neighborhoods.
Items that can be recycled
through the expanded recycling program in parts of Norfolk and
all of Franklin are: newspapers, junk mail, magazines,
catalogs, flattened cardboard boxes, classroom and office
paper, glass jars and bottles (clear, brown and green),
plastic bottles, aluminum cans, foil and pie pans, steel and
tin cans.
Items not accepted: household batteries, telephone
books, Styrofoam blocks, window glass, drinking glasses,
plastic bags, chipboard boxes (such as cereal and cracker
boxes).
For information about when your Norfolk community is to
start expanded curbside recycling, call the Norfolk
Environmental Commission, 441-1347, or visit the following Web
site: www.norfolk.gov/PublicWorks/waste.asp
More: Recyling
do's and don'ts in Hampton Roads
Upcoming: Local
Earth Day events
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Residents
of the Berkley and Campostella, communities, just south of the Elizabeth
River in Norfolk, were the first to have their carts emptied Tuesday
morning.
In recent years, only about 5 percent of households in Berkley
regularly recycled, according to SPSA, giving it one of the lowest
participation rates in the city.
On Tuesday, several residents out walking or sitting on front porches
said they did not know about the new program or how it worked. Others were
reading how-to pamphlets distributed last week with the blue carts.
“It’ll probably take a while to get used to,” said Edward E. Peele , a
lifelong Norfolk resident who lives across from the Berkley Community
Center. “It’ll save some space in my trash can, I bet.”
More homes in more neighborhoods will be added to the program in phases
– this summer , in January 2005 , and lastly in June 2005 – until about
57,000 households across the city will be served by what officials have
dubbed “The Big Easy.”
“This program is going to be a major change for Hampton Roads,
particularly Norfolk,” said John Deuel , Norfolk’s recycling coordinator,
wearing Mardi Gras beads and a broad smile at the event Tuesday.
Automated recycling began last week to the west in Franklin, where all
3,300 single-family homes in the city switched to the blue carts.
At the same time, though, recycling with SPSA has been dropped in
Portsmouth and Isle of Wight County, with both citing high expense and low
participation.
Meanwhile, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Smithfield and Southampton County have
decided to stick with the existing recycling service.
Localities staying with the old program will pay $1.25 per month per
home beginning July 1 . Those upgrading will pay $3.01 per home.
Portsmouth continues to assess a monthly recycling fee, though it no
longer offers the service.
SPSA officials hope the new carts double participation rates, as they
did in Virginia Beach, which now boasts some of the highest recycling
rates in the state, at about 75 percent on average.
In Franklin, though, the number of households that recycled actually
decreased the first day of cart collections, last Thursday . Officials
explained that the regular curbside schedule was changed for the special
occasion, which may have confused some residents.
“It takes a couple rotations for things to get going,” said SPSA’s
recycling director, Debra Devine . She should know, having ushered in
automated recycling in Virginia Beach in 1997, before being hired by the
regional waste agency.