Future of recycling rests on fee renewal

Recycling in Pennsylvania is supported by a fee on municipal waste -- a fee that must be renewed by October 1998 if recycling is to continue in the state.

"We treat recyclables as commodities," Hursh said, "not as waste."

Currently the fee is $2 on every ton of trash disposed of in Pennsylvania, said Joanne Shafer, Centre County recycling coordinator for the Centre County Solid Waste Authority. Landfills where trash is disposed charge the fee in addition to another fee for trash disposal. Shafer said money collected from the fee is used to finance grants which aid recycling efforts in Pennsylvania.

Under Act 101, the DEP is required to make a recommendation in the form of a report to the legislature stating its position on the recycling fee, Hursh said.

In order for this to appear in the legislature, a state representative needs to introduce the bill and it must be passed by the state legislature and Gov. Tom Ridge, Hursh said.

The recommendation by the DEP was made last September, Hursh said, along with recommendations from the Recycling Fund Advisory Committee and a municipal stakeholders group. Each group recommended a continuation of the fee. The groups include members from the general assembly, municipal planners, environmental groups, public interest groups and local government officials, Hursh said.

"If nothing happens at this point the fee goes away at the end of 1998," Shafer said.

Ramifications of the fee's disposal, she said, could affect recycling programs in some areas.

"I would say first off, all or many rural areas of the Pennsylvania recycling program would not be able to continue," Shafer said, because recycling is not usually economical in rural areas.

The University could also potentially suffer because the solid waste authority and University work closely together with the recycling program, Shafer said. And because the University is not eligible to buy equipment through grants, cooperation with the solid waste authority is important.

Recycling in Centre County began in 1989, Shafer said. Currently, 17,000 of 45,000 households in the county place their recyclables on the curbside weekly. In 1995, the University and Centre County recycled 44 percent of the solid waste generated, Shafer said. This figure improved from the 37.5 percent of waste recycled in 1994, and 2.1 percent of the waste recycled in 1990.

There are also 100 drop-off areas where residents can take recyclable items.

"The drop-off program in the county probably accounts for 25 percent of the recycling tonnage," Shafer said. This program is voluntary, but would be the most affected if the fee was not continued. Education programs would also be curtailed if the fee was not continued, she said.

"We have more recycling programs in Pennsylvania than any other state," Hursh said. "We have more than 10 percent of all recycling programs in the United States."

Two million tons of material waste were recycled instead of disposed of in a landfill in the state two years ago, Hursh said.

But recycling is not only beneficial to the environment, Hursh said -- it also aids the economy by producing jobs.

Act 101 mandates that when communities reach a certain size, recycling is mandatory, Hursh said. Currently, 864 curbside pick-up programs and 491 drop-off programs are in effect.

The fee collected on municipal waste in the state goes to fund three state-run recycling centers and aid 17 private recycling centers, Hursh said. The private sector is allotted $15.7 million by the state government; bins and trucks are two examples of items bought with the grant money, he said.

"My gut feeling is that (the fee) will be re-authorized," Hursh said. "Recycling has become a habit in Pennsylvania."