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Master Plan: Really talking trash in Dover
(by Cindy Forrest - May 07, 2008)
Implementing the three "R’s" - recycle, reuse, and reduce is taking hold at the municipal level throughout the state of New Jersey in order to keep the Garden State from becoming the Garbage State.
In Dover, Mayor James Dodd and the Board of Aldermen have adopted a new Recycle Element for the Master Plan that will bring the town inline with its state mandated responsibilities. The goal of the new plan is to have the town recycling at least 50 percent of the total municipal solid waste stream, including yard waste and vegetative waste, by the year 2015. The goal is actually the same as one that was targeted to be accomplished by Dec. 31, 1995, but was never met.
"I don’t think any town in Morris County met that state goal," said town engineer and planner Michael Hantson.
Garbage picked up by any hauler in Morris County by law must taken to a county solid waste county transfer station where it’s dumped onto a concrete slab. There inspectors "eyeball" it and if they see a percentage of paper, plastic or other recyclable items the hauler will be written up and fined. It is the hauler’s responsibility, because according to the state, they should be checking, prior to pick-up and if recyclables are found the garbage should be left in place and the container tagged. Since both solid waste and recyclables are taken to a county site the tonnage in each category is recorded.
To address reaching the 50 percent goal in Dover Hantson along with Recycling Coordinator William Isselin wrote a 20-page document that targets schools and businesses, as major contributors to the volume of solid waste in the town. A hauler under contract to the town collects most of the residential garbage, which makes up just over 40 percent of the all the solid waste produced in Dover.
"We have that side of recycle well under control," said Hantson.
However, the school system with 25.5 percent and the hospital with 21.1 percent produce almost half of the entire solid waste collected in town.
"If we can get them in compliance," said Hantson, "we’ll be well over the 50 percent mark."
The plan calls for educating business owners about their responsibility, stricter storage guidelines and random inspections. The stricter storage guidelines will apply to new businesses coming into town. The new requirements will base the size of the storage area on the size of the facility and the code will call for masonry walls instead of fencing, which is easily destroyed by the trucks.
"What we have found is that most of the storage areas are grossly inadequate," said Hantson, "and when they run out of room that’s when recyclables get mixed with other garbage."
Dover will be one of the first towns in New Jersey to adopt these tougher standards, according to Hantson. "We got the idea from California, apparently they’ve been doing this for awhile," he said.
And, in addition to spot random checks of what’s in the Dumpsters, inspections will be made to be sure that the proper containers are in place. "We don’t have garbage police checking out Dumpsters 24 hours a day but our inspectors will be spot checking," explained Hantson.
The mayor and board of alderman introduced the new plan at their March 25 meeting. However, the second reading and vote was delayed until the April 22 meeting. With the high cost involved in meeting the legal advertisement procedures, Dodd wanted to be sure that it is done correctly the first time.
"I’d like to make sure that everyone [on the board] has reviewed the recycle plan and if there is any input please let us know. It cost $800 to advertise this and we don’t want to have to do it twice," he said.
The volume of curbside garbage collected in Dover rose from 4,507 tons in 1996 to 5,647 tons in 2006. During that 10-year period the rate of curbside recycling began at 35 percent, spiked in 2001 to 38 percent and ended back at the starting figure of 35 percent. The last revision to the recycling element of the town’s Master Plan was made in Feb. 1989.
The plan had the full endorsement of the Planning Board and the backing of the Board of Alderman, which voted unanimously with Pat Fahey and Dominic Timpani absent, to approve the proposal. The new recycle plan became effective on May 5.
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