I received the following news release from Orange County today, notifying me that the county will be monitoring — by street address and by using a radio frequency device — which county residents are recycling and which people are not.

See the portion of the news release I have highlighted in bold red type below.

Frankly, this makes the hair stand up on my arms. I can only wonder what comes next when the recycling police discover who has dared not to “participate.”

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Media Contact

Muriel Williman, Education and Outreach Coordinator

Orange County Solid Waste Management

Phone: 919.968.2788

[email protected]

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

ORANGE COUNTY TO DELIVER RECYCLING CARTS TO TOWN RESIDENTS

ORANGE COUNTY, NC (May 15, 2014)—The Orange County Solid Waste Management Department is pleased to announce that residents of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough with curbside recycling will soon receive new blue 95 gallon wheeled carts. These will replace the old square 18-gallon bins that have been used as recycling receptacle for decades.

More than 18,000 carts will be delivered to residents of all three towns from Monday, June 9, through Sunday, June 29, 2014. Residents should start using their new blue carts the week of June 30, on their regularly scheduled recycling day, not before. Curbside recycling in the towns will remain a weekly service.

Postcards with cart use information and recycling details will be mailed during the first week in June to each address receiving a new cart. Keep the colorful postcard for reference throughout the collection year. When you do receive your cart, please pull it off the street immediately and house it near your residence. Notice the decals on the cart describe the exact materials that can be placed inside. The carts will also be equipped with an RFID tag (or “radio-frequency identification”) that will tie the cart to each address and will help measure participation rates.

 

 After the June 30, cart start date only recycling placed in the new blue carts will be collected, and the old square bins should be retired. Residents can recycle old bins by placing them in the new carts through the month of July, or if they prefer, keep them for reuse around the house. Old bins that get recycled will be segregated and sold to the company providing the carts (Rehrig Pacific Company) to be made into new recycling carts. Bins that arrive back to us in good condition will be set aside for reuse in our community.

We ask that residents place their carts at the curb with the lid opening facing the street by 7:00 a.m. on their collection day, or put them out the night before. The cart should be clear of any obstructions, and two to three feet distant from any other object such as mailboxes, trees, vehicles, or other carts. This is so the truck’s mechanical collection arm can have space to lift and tip the carts with ease. Only materials placed loosely inside the recycling cart, with the cart lid closed, will get emptied into the recycling truck—items left on the ground, in plastic bags, or another containers, or that get stuck inside the cart will not be recycled. Carts should be rolled back to the house after collection in accordance with Town ordinances.

Approximately 400 residents in Chapel Hill and Carrboro will have their recycling day changed to help increase route efficiency, mostly in the Vineyard community off of Weaver Dairy Road extension. Those residents will receive an additional postcard notifying them of their new collection day, and also will receive a door hanger notification when their cart is delivered to remind them of the change.

Roll carts are typically safer for residents and collection staff to use; accommodate automated collection to increase efficiency; minimize spillage/windblown materials; and increase storage capacity for the more serious recyclers.

Residents of the towns as well as the County recycling staff have been eagerly awaiting implementation of roll carts for curbside recycling for many years.

 

For more information, please call the Solid Waste Management Department at 919.968.2788.

 

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