SOUTH PORTLAND — Recycling saves – money and the environment – but not doing it right may soon end up costing.

The city is considering a $500 fine and rescinding recycling rights for property owners who contaminate the recycling stream with garbage, forcing tons of recyclable material to be incinerated.

The problem in South Portland started cropping up about a year ago on routes where garbage and recyclables are picked up on Fridays, said Tim Gato, the city’s interim public works director.

Gato said workers at ecomaine, the recycling and garbage incinerating cooperative owned by local communities, examine incoming trucks to make sure there’s not too much garbage mixed in with the recyclables.

He said the plant’s automated system for sorting recyclables gets backed up and won’t function well if more than 15 percent of a load is made up of non-recyclable material.

Once that threshold is crossed, he said, ecomaine sends an incoming load over to the incinerator — and sends a bill for $80 a ton to the city.

Lately, he said, five tons a week of what was thought to be recyclable material has had to be incinerated because the contamination rate was too high.

The cost “really adds up in a hurry,” Gato said.

Gato said some of the items thrown in with recyclables “are ridiculous” and suggest that people are intentionally ignoring recycling rules.

For instance, he said, residents have tossed in bags of clothes, “which are reusable, but aren’t recyclable.” He said other items include dirty diapers, diaper pails, small appliances and wooden items.

“Just because it’s made of wood doesn’t mean it’s recyclable,” Gato said.

Gato said most of the trash and recycling pickups are automated, with scoops on the trucks, rather than workers, picking up containers.

But he said his department can send out crews to check curbside recycling bins to find violators.

The fine is intended to discourage property owners from allowing violations to take place, he said, while rescinding recycling rights – by no longer picking up bins at places where violations are occurring – is intended as a temporary measure to allow city officials to find out why people are tossing garbage in with their recycling.

“There are some people who don’t know and some who don’t care,” he said.

Taking away the ability to recycle, he said, is expected to give city officials a chance to address the problem with violators.

City Councilor Tom Coward said he supports the approach, although some councilors at a recent workshop said they thought barring recycling by violators sends the wrong message.

But Coward said the city has been aggressive about encouraging recycling and may need to be equally aggressive in cracking down on those who are undermining the efforts of others.

“When you try the carrot and that doesn’t work, you need to try the stick,” Coward said, noting that neither item is recyclable.

Encouraging proper recycling, he said, is not just the right thing to do, “it will save us a heck of a lot of money.”

Gato noted that it will also send a strong message to those who recycle responsibly.

He said that when his garbage and recyclables are picked up on Fridays, it will feel a lot better to know his efforts to sort properly aren’t going up in smoke.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at: emurphy@pressherald.com

 

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