Published: May 06, 2008 10:06 pm            

TOWN OF NIAGARA: The trash talk is over

After years of debate, town finally adhering to DEC regulations

One of the last New York municipalities to offer curbside recycling is finally coming into compliance.

Town of Niagara officials hosted a public informational meeting Tuesday to update residents on the start of its curbside program on June 30. While the town has technically been recycling in a different manner for years, it has been in violation of state law.

“You’ve been out of compliance since 1989,” said Efrat Forgette, an environmental engineer for the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. “We just never enforced it.”

The DEC sent town officials a letter last year warning if a curbside recycling program was not offered by Jan. 2, 2008, it would be reported to the attorney general’s office for enforcement. Supervisor Steven Richards said the town received an extension on that deadline and has been finalizing the details of a curbside program over the past few months.

In the past, the town has turned its garbage into electricity by having it incinerated after pick up. While recyclable items were separated in that process, it did not qualify as curbside recycling, which is separated by residents and picked up separately, Forgette said.

Town and DEC officials have been arguing over the difference for more than a decade.

“I just want it on the record that we have been recycling for a good number of years,” said resident Dan Jarlenski, who sits on the town’s Environmental Committee. “Let people in the town know that we weren’t a bunch of people who don’t care.”

Once curbside recycling begins on June 30, the blue bins will be picked up on residents’ normal trash days by Allied Waste, the parent company of BFI. Both the recycling and trash pickup service is provided free to the town due to its host community agreement with Allied Waste.

The recycling bins should be delivered to residents a week before collection begins. Detailed information on what should and shouldn’t be recycled will be included in the town’s upcoming newsletter and be available at town hall.

Now that the town has come into compliance with state regulations, residents will be expected to do the same. Richards said the town can issue fines if someone isn’t recycling, though he would prefer other methods to encourage participation.

“We need to educate people better to get better compliance,” he said.

        

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