Is The City Of Liberty About To Be Hit With A Huge Bill For Not Recycling?

Is Liberty about to face a huge bill because we can't recycle?

As reported by The Greenville News:

"Cities throughout Pickens County could be hit with a new bill — or given a rebate — based on a target recycling rate the county has set for municipalities in an effort to step up recycling.

Pickens County has set the target at 22 percent recycling for residential waste for municipalities, according to County Administrator Chappell Hurst.

Hurst said municipalities in the county have a rate of recycling that averages 12 to 14 percent for residential waste and said the county is currently at about 40 percent recycling in unincorporated areas.

He said state law says counties must recycle about 35 percent for residential waste.

The deadline to meet targets is Dec. 31, Hurst said, but if municipalities have made substantial progress, it can be extended to March 31. He said the 20 percent target was passed in the 2009-10 budget in July.

He said the target rate will increase to 31 percent for municipalities [next year] because the county is trying to phase in the recycling effort.

... the penalty would equate to $32,935 a year for Clemson if the penalty was $35 a ton."

The biggest culprits in Liberty that I can see are the schools, the Liberty Car Wash, and whichever restaurants are dumping behind Hot Diggitty Dogs. These locations often have cardboard which could be recycled, aluminum which could be recycled for money, and plastic bottles which are also an asset. Some of these areas are used for dumping by residents.

This effort by the county to pass the buck is quite bold considering that Pickens County has a budget surplus in waste management. The numbers are projected and estimated and even rounded off - taking no "self efforts" into account and leaving out brush recycling.

Figures for Pickens County do not include Clemson University's massive "self-run" recycling and procurement program.

This also doesn't account for home recycling efforts such as those made by my family. I rarely place brush or decomposable items out for pickup - My family uses a compost area. I recycle all of my aluminum cans. I recycle a considerable amount of my paper waste into packing materials. I regularly re-use cardboard boxes and take significant amounts to various recycling places. I also participate in Greenville County's once a year electronics recycling program. Furthermore, I buy surplus (within Pickens County) thereby saving it from the landfill ... I then fix, clean, reuse, or resell it.