Oh Rubbish!
Just as every child expects food, shelter, and clothing from his parents, residents of a modern city take for granted certain basic services – like mail delivery, emergency medical response, police and fire department protection, and trash removal. We pay our taxes, and we expect to receive these services when we need them without too much effort. When they are tampered with, it causes much stress and anxiety, especially when the changes being made seem unfair and promise to make life more difficult.
Much Ado About Garbage
Many members of our community were first alerted to the City’s impending trash collection changes by the letter written by Isaiah Cox in the Where What When’s Pesach issue. While some were too busy cleaning to notice, others, anticipating the deterioration of a routine aspect of daily life, were upset and angry.
No longer would trash be picked up twice a week. Instead, a proposal, called One Plus One would allow for a “mixed trash” pick-up just once a week, along with a once-a-week, unlimited recycling pick-up. Even more disturbing is that One Plus One would drastically reduced the amount of garbage that can be put out at each address – from the current 160 gallons per week to a mere 64 gallons per week.
Mr. Cox said that the new guidelines would be impossible for a large family to follow: “If a family has three children in disposable diapers, they will fill up a good part of their limit with diapers alone. And what about the heavy use of paper goods and foil pans? Or the common practice of hosting guests on Shabbos and Yom Tov? The City claims it is more concerned about having the garbage in closed cans than in the exact amounts of trash, but if a law is on the books, it can always be enforced. If it is not going to be enforced, then don’t make it into a law.”
In an article that appeared in the Baltimore Sun on Sunday, April 18, Yakov Shafranovich, another member of our community, wrote, “According to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an average person in this country produces 4.6 pounds of garbage daily, or a total of 32 pounds per week. roughly the amount of garbage that would fit in a 40-gallon container. According to the Census Bureau., an average household in the city has 2.63 people, for a total of 84 pounds of weekly trash. This would fit snugly in about 105 gallons, 40 gallons more than what the proposed plan allows. Even with recycling, which according to the EPA average diverts about 25 percent of trash nation wide, this still leaves us with 79 gallons – or 15 gallons more than what’s allowed.”
The City’s view, of course, is that much of the trash consists of recyclable items, which, under the new system, can be put out in an unlimited manner on the second collection day. Still, it would seem problematic for the typical large family to comply with the guidelines. If 2.63 people produce 84 gallons of garbage, how much does a family of six or eight produce? How much would they produce if they host five Shabbos guests? And how was it fair to have the same garbage allowances for a family of four as for a family of ten?
Taking Action
Mr. Cox and Mr. Shafranovich were not the only ones to react; people discussed it among themselves and many called their City Council representatives. It seems that all the talk had an effect. On Tuesday, April 21, the City Council held a working session on the issue. Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Director of Agudath Israel’s Maryland government affairs office, was there. “Virtually every sentence of the proposed legislation was gone over and analyzed,” said Rabbi Sadwin. He was pleased that the proposal was amended by two important points: 1) The original provision of 64 gallons of garbage at the once-a-week mixed trash pick-up has been changed to 96 gallons. 2) There will be a waiver system, so that large families who are recycling but still cannot manage within this limit will be allowed to request a waiver allowing them 160 gallons of garbage weekly, the current limit. Although the details of the waiver system have not yet been decided, Rabbi Sadwin feels that the Department of Public Works is amenable to working with our community to find a system that works.
Mr. Cox is also pleased with the City’s cooperation. “The community has to be very grateful to the askanim who worked with our representatives on the Baltimore City Council and the people in the Department of Public Works to amend the initial proposal and make it more palatable to people who have large families or many guests.”
As of this writing, the City Council is still listening to recommended amendments to One Plus One. All amendments will be finalized on April 30, and the Council will vote on the proposal on May 18. If it passes, the law will take effect on July 1, but its implementation may be delayed until July 14, to allow for the July 4 holiday.
An informational meeting for the public is scheduled on Tuesday, May 19, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., the day after the vote, at the Park Heights JCC. City officials will explain the program and answer questions.
T-Day: July 1
On July 1, in addition to the One Plus One changes in amounts and kinds of trash (assuming it passes), the City is totally revamping its garbage collection routes. These routes have not been changed since 1970 and do not reflect the current layout of the City or its population centers. All streets in a neighborhood will now have their trash collection on the same day. Collection will begin at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m., and trash will be collected on Tuesday thru Friday, never on a Monday. This will avoid the nine holiday Mondays per year, when people often mistakenly put out their trash and leave it there until the next scheduled pick up. Saturday will be used as a make-up day if there is a holiday in the middle of the week. When the garbage is collected on Shabbos, the City will let those who observe Shabbos put out their trash before sundown on Friday.
Where Does Your Garbage Go?
Why all the hoopla about the trash? Celeste Amato, a representative of the Department of Public Works, explains that the main purpose of the changes is to save the City money. Currently, most of the trash collected in Baltimore is incinerated at the Wheelbrator facility, a private company that charges the City $33 per ton. Some trash, mostly construction materials, is sent to a landfill, which costs the City $66 per ton. Recycled trash, however, costs the City nothing! The company makes its profit by selling the recycled waste.
At Recycle America, in Elkridge, Maryland, which is part of the larger company called Waste Management, all the recycling is placed on a conveyor belt, where workers pull out the plastic bags that clog the machinery; the plastic bags are bundled and sent to Trex, a company that produces plastic decking. After that, there is very little human involvement. Magnets help separate the garbage, and varying blasts of air pressure blow different elements of the garbage to different places. Only five percent of recyclable trash is unusable.
The City will also save money by having only one crew picking up garbage rather than the two (the regular crew and the biweekly recycling crew). The extra employees will be used to clean the streets and alley ways. The City will also be able to pick up leaves and other yard debris more efficiently. Residents may set out unlimited yard waste, such as twigs and leaves, etc., next to their garbage cans on their regular garbage pick-up day.
What Can Be Recycled?
“Almost everything can be recycled,” says Ms. Amato. She mentions paper of any thickness or color – including newspapers, cardboard, books, and magazines – as well as glass, metal, and plastic. These include jars, tuna cans, soda cans, plastic bottles, aerosol cans, clean aluminum pans, empty prescription bottles, Tupperware, and yogurt containers. Everything can be put together; there is no need to separate by material. The recycling plant will take items even if they are not rinsed, but the City recommends rinsing items to decrease the rat problem. The only things that cannot be recycled are pots and pans, cutlery, and broken glass.
All recycling material should be placed in the yellow recycling containers or in cardboard boxes and paper bags. A regular garbage can may be used if it is clearly marked as recycled materials. Recyclable items may not be placed in plastic bags, because they clog the equipment at the recycling plant.
The Spirit of the Law
According to Ms. Amato, the emphasis will be the proper way of putting out trash – on “sticky and stinky” – rather than on the volume of trash. “The most important thing is to use garbage cans with lids,” she says. The City will be particularly strict about garbage put out the night before collection day in plastic bags without trash cans. “The goal of the City is to put recycling uppermost in people’s minds and to make recycling more efficient – not to give people citations,” says Ms. Amato.
What if a family has more garbage than the garbage crew will pick up? According to Ms. Amato, one can take excess garbage to a City drop-off centers. The one closest to our neighborhood is the NW Transfer Station at 5030 Reisterstown Road (410-396-2706). It is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
If people do not follow the rules, they will be subject to a citation and a fine of up to $100, which will be recorded as a misdemeanor on their record. A misdemeanor can make a person non-eligible for some job opportunities.
Recycling on Shabbos
Another law our community is concerned with is the halacha. The question was asked, “Is recycling considered borer (separating mixtures in a prohibited manner), one of the 39 types of labor forbidden on Shabbos?” According to Rabbi Mordechai Frankel, Director of the Institute of Halacha at the Star-K, separating a mixture of items into different groups could present an issue of borer. “So, if you are cleaning up your dining room table, and bringing soda bottles and other trash into the kitchen in such a manner that the items are not mixed together, then you may throw them either into the recycling bin or the trash can. What could be a problem is if all the waste on the table is gathered into a plastic tablecloth in such a way that the items are mixed together and brought into the kitchen and then separated. One of the rules of borer is that separating mixtures is only permitted for immediate use, and recycling would not be considered an immediate use.” The other halachic issue is rinsing containers or bottles to be recycled. “This would be preparation for after Shabbos, and could be a problem,” said Rabbi Frankel. “As with all sheilas, it is best to consult your rav.”
What Next?
The trash changes are an opportunity for our community not only to see how the City government works but also to become involved in it. Although there are many other issues in which we have a stake, we, as a community, tend to believe we have no choice about government decisions. Lowly trash has made us aware of the power of a letter to the editor or a call to our representatives. We are grateful to those who brought the trash issue to our awareness, to those who negotiated with the City on our behalf, and of course, to the City officials who have been so cooperative.
This article started by depicting the anxiety and anger about the trash changes. What should our attitude be at its conclusion? As Rabbi Sadwin says, “One Plus One will be passed into law and will soon be in effect. It will take some getting used to, because many of us have not been recycling and will have to establish new habits.”
New habits? That does not sound so bad!
“As time goes on,” Rabbi Sadwin continues, “it will become easier to recycle, and less garbage will be generated. Many details still have to be sorted out, but hopefully, with the cooperation of our elected officials and the help of our askanim, the kinks can be worked out, and we will continue to be able to rely on the City to provide this basic need.”
