Cities lag in recycling -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 5/2/2002
Last Visited: 5/3/2002
"I think it was actually very encouraging," said Pat Holland, director of the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District."We've got 24 communities doing at least 25 percent.That's terrific."
Countywide, the average recycling level for residents is just over 18 percent.
All 10 of the southwestern suburbs have curbside recycling programs in which residents are asked to separate glass, plastic, cans and newspapers into special bags for pickup.
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"An aggressive yard waste program is what carries communities from the 15 percent to the 40 percent level," Holland acknowledged.
North Royalton and Brook Park also have yard waste composting plans.
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Holland said that while residential recycling has never hit that level, Cuyahoga County was able to meet the mandate with the combined total of residential and commercial recycling figures.
However, even the combined figure has now fallen below the EPA's 25 percent goal, threatening the district with regulatory oversight and the possibility of having to rewrite its entire solid waste plan - a time-consuming and costly venture.
"When we saw the numbers starting to slip, I was personally convinced there was a lot of recycling going on that wasn't being recorded," Holland said.
Holland said the point of the survey - initially released as report cards, with letter grades on cities' recycling efforts - was not to chastise communities that aren't pulling their weight, but to get a better handle on how much recycling is actually being done.He said he believes much of the recycling is not being reported.
"That was the purpose of this report card process - to get communities to focus on their data reporting," he said.
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Holland said he believes the public's enthusiasm for recycling has ebbed over the years, and that cities with the highest numbers communicate with their residents."I think people need to be continually reminded," Holland said.