Ross Commissioner Gets Earful Over New Recycling Bins

Ross Commissioner David Mikec said his phone started ringing the night before Election Day. "I had to field a lot of complaints, and comments like ‘they’re going to make great toy boxes, or the first thing that’s going to recycling is that big thing,” he said during Wednesday’s Commissioners meeting. Mikec represents Ross Township's 6th Ward, where many residents park on the street and now wonder where they are supposed to put the new, much larger Waste Management recycling bins which are currently being delivered throughout the township. Ross Commissioners voted March 4 to opt into automated recycling collection, where feasible in the township. Each customer is getting a 65-gallon recycling bin on wheels for the disposal of all recycling materials, including glass, plastics, cardboard, and newspapers. There will be no charge for the bins. "An automated arm is going to come out of the truck, grab the bin, empty it in the truck and set it right back down where it picked it up," said Township manager Doug Sample. The new collection system is scheduled to begin the week of June 3. Mikec predicts Waste Management will have to rethink its strategy, particularly in the area he represents. "It’s all on street parking in most of the 6th ward, there’s no room for a recycling bin, it’s just not going to work. This driver is going to get out of his truck, and walk up to the sidewalk to get these bins," he said. "There’s no way that they can put them on the road, there’s just no way." Commissioner Dan DeMarco said Waste Management will simply learn the hard way. "I agree with you Dave, logistically it’s going to be a nightmare with a lot of those streets in your ward," he said. "So let them learn the hard way that they’re going to have to change back to the current collection system."  However Sample said for most of the township, the new bins are a fact of life. “We’re beating a dead horse here, as we agreed, Waste Management has the final say on what is feasible and what is not feasible," he said. "We agreed to this when we signed the contract with the company. Hampton’s doing it, McCandless is doing it, Shaler is doing it, everyone is doing it, this is the wave of the future, there’s no use arguing about it anymore." What do you think of the new recycling collection system? Tell us in the comments box below. Join Patch for more community news or join us on Facebook and Twitter.
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