RECYCLING PROGRAM TO EXPAND; A 3-BAG LIMIT SCHEDULED FOR ENFORCEMENT

Cape Girardeau officials are hoping an expansion of the city's recycling program Monday will help residents better comply with a three-bag weekly limit on trash.

At the recommendation of a citizens Solid Waste Task Force, the city Monday will begin strict enforcement of the three-bag limit.

If residents want the city to collect their trash in excess of the three bag or 32-gallon container limit, they'll have to pay for the additional service.

Public Works Director Doug Leslie said 32-gallon capacity bags will be available at various locations in the city or at the public works building on South Kingshighway for residents to purchase.

The bags are marked with the city's insignia at a cost of $2 per bag in three-bag packages. Trash crews will collect waste in excess of the three-bag limit, but only if it's placed in the specially marked bags.

"The three-bag limit has been a long-standing provision in the solid waste ordinance, and we'll be trying to enforce what we've already had," Leslie said. "If people have additional trash, we'll collect it only if it's in city bags."

For information on where to purchase the special bags, call the public works department at 334-9151.

Mary Ellen Klein, the city's environmental services coordinator, said she hopes the addition of tin and metal cans to the recyclable items collected by the city, will enable residents to cut the volume of their trash and increase the amount diverted from the waste stream.

Last month, the city was able to divert more than 132,000 pounds of glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard, newspapers, appliances and compost from the waste stream through its recycling programs.

Since last July, more than 1.4 million pounds or 700 tons of recyclables have been collected, an increase of about 440,000 pounds over the previous year.

"It hasn't increased like we wanted it to, but maybe through the tin can collections and enforcement of the three-bag limit on regular solid waste that will come up a little more," Klein said.

She said residents can place tin and metal cans with their aluminum recyclables.

The city recently was able to secure a market for the metal cans at a facility north of East St. Louis, Ill. "All they do is recycle metal," she said. "It should be a really good market."

But Klein said she expects some public resistance to the three-bag limit on trash. The inquiries and complaints began soon after the city last week placed an advertisement in the newspaper notifying residents of the upcoming changes, she said.

But Leslie said he hopes people aren't caught unaware of the three-bag limit.

"We've done the best we can to advertise. I don't know what else we could do," he said.

The public works director said that since the city last year reduced trash collections from twice to once weekly, trash crews generally have continued to collect bags in excess of three bags. At the same time, officials tried to notify people of the limit.

"The problem we've had in the past several months has been that many residents are putting out numerous small bags," Leslie said. "We're trying to standardize the bags and the size of bags used."

Recently, trash collectors have refused to collect the excess bags, leaving them with a notice explaining the limit.

As the limit is more strictly enforced, Leslie said he hopes more residents will recycle and increase the percentage of waste now being diverted from the landfill.

From October through December last year, that percentage stood at about 16.5 percent, he said.

"We think that's good. That's about the national average," Leslie added.

But a 1991 state landfill law calls for a 40 percent reduction by 1998 in the amount of solid wastes going to Missouri's landfills.

Klein said the recycling program has been successful, but added that increased educational efforts should further boost recycling.

"We're doing more with education, and the Solid Waste Task Force is starting to get into the schools to get our message across," she said.