Posted on 08/20/2010 8:00:42 AM PDT by goldendays
High-tech carts will tell on Cleveland residents who don't recycle ... and they face $100 fine
Trash carts containing more than 10 percent recyclable material could lead to a $100 fine, according to Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens. Recyclables include glass, metal cans, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard. City Council on Wednesday approved spending $2.5 million on high-tech carts for 25,000 households across the city, expanding a pilot program that began in 2007 with 15,000 households.
The expansion will continue at 25,000 households a year until nearly all of the city's 150,000 residences are included. Existing carts might be retrofitted with the microchips. "We're trying to automate our system to be a more efficient operation," Owens said. "This chip will assist us in doing our job better."
The chip-embedded carts are just starting to catch on elsewhere. The Washington, D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Va., earlier this year announced it would issue carts to check whether people are recycling.
Some cities in England have used the high-tech trash carts for several years to weigh how much garbage people throw out. People are charged extra for exceeding allotted limits.
Cleveland officials want to automate nearly all residential waste collection under a program being financed in part by a new fee that went into effect earlier this year.
The automated trucks allow drivers to remain in the cab and empty carts using a remote-control arm. Cleveland owns three of these trucks and plans to buy nine more. Recycling is good for the environment and the city's bottom line, officials said. Cleveland pays $30 a ton to dump garbage in landfills, but earns $26 a ton for recyclables.
The city last year sent 220,000 tons of garbage to landfills and collected 5,800 tons of recyclables. City Council approved updated trash collection ordinances last month to include a section on automated waste collection and curbside recycling.
The new law changes infractions of the law from a minor misdemeanor to a civil penalty. The recycling law only applies to residents who have been issued the carts.
The new law also prohibits people from setting out excessive amounts of trash on tree lawns, which officials say has been an ongoing problem. Fines for excessive trash will range from $250 to $500 depending on the amount.
In either case, the property owner receives the citation. Landlords are responsible for making sure their tenants follow the law.
Owens said Cleveland will conduct a public-service campaign to educate residents about the new collection system and recycling program.
The city stepped up enforcement of ordinances governing trash collection last year by issuing 2,900 tickets, nearly five times more tickets than in 2008. Those infractions include citations for people who put out their trash too early or fail to bring in their garbage cans from the curb in a timely manner.
The Division of Waste Collection is on track to meet its goal of issuing 4,000 citations this year, Owens said. "We're trying to make sure Cleveland stays clean and residents are properly informed on how these things should be set out," he said. "By issuing these tickets, it's helping us change the attitude or perception on how things should be set out."
Councilman Martin Keane, who represents the West Park neighborhood, said he would prefer that the Division of Waste Collection use more discretion when deciding whether to issue a ticket. A warning in many instances would suffice, he said.
"Everybody knows the ones who blatantly disregards the law," Keane said. "Those are the people we should hit with a $100 ticket."
I don’t understand. How does a chip know what is being put in the trash can?
Also a “nice” touch about the property owner getting the citation... Bet the landlord going after his “not-green-enough” tenants is going to be fun.
if you don,t pay the fine government will take your home
I do no weld. I do not own welding equipment. I did, however get married a few years ago, and one of the presents we got and rarely use is a creme brulee kit that comes with a flamey-thing that cooks and browns the sugar on top of the brulee.
I have been advised to apply that to the RFID device, from the inside, so as to avoid any scorch marks.
In Philly, they have the equivalent of recylcing police. I’ve talked to residents, these green meter maids actually check your trashcans and have a handheld device that they can generate citations with. This is their idea of “Green jobs”, I suppose.
it comeing to very state
Cleveland pays $30 a ton to dump garbage in landfills, but earns $26 a ton for recyclables.
They should do the same for the customer. They should be charged so much for garbage and then given a credit for their recycling. THey would probably get 99% of the people recycling. Instead they want to fine you even more money for not doing it. Sounds like the city is getting all the credit.
THAT is possible. ....yep, makes the most sense, it's the way that I'd do it.
But also stupid. ....yep, totally foolish.
You don't actually think that everything you put in the recycling bin actually gets recycled, do you? Metal does, probably. Paper might, in good times when people don't mind paying extra for "recycled content".
However, unless they've come up with a super sorting technique for plastics, I'd be astonished if more than a fraction actually gets recycled.
This article, for some reason, didn’t explain how it works.
The chip will track whether you bring the can to the curb. If you do not bring your recycling can to the curb for a certain period of weeks, this triggers a manual inspection of your garbage. Those people found to have more than 10% recycleables in their garbage will be fined.
I cant wait for big brother to try this out here.. lol
I can assure you that overnight, the desert would be filled with trash.
Its time to start resisting this kind of garbage. I am all for recycling if its voluntary, but once they FORCE me to do it.. game on. I am not going to have my garbage monitored, enough is enough.
That’s awesome, you can load your neighbor’s trashcan with beer cans and newspapers and get them fined.
Updated: 3:42 pm EDT August 4, 2010 DAYTON, Ohio — Two Senate Republicans are calling out a Dayton recycling program for what they say was wasteful spending of federal Stimulus government Stimulus dollars. Sen. John McCain and Sen. Tom Coburn identified 100 questionable Stimulus projects across the country and put Dayton on the list. The city received $500,000 to track large recycling bins with Microchips. The senators called it a waste of money. City officials told News Center 7 that Daytons..
Ohio Ping
what state are you in?
If done by weight, how does the recycling bin know that you haven’t put a non-recyclable object into it? Wetting down the newspapers (previously mentioned) seems like the easiest solution, though. Maybe a piece of steel plate bolted to the bottom of the recycle bin, painted to match the color? “Steel is recyclable, I’m just conflicted over whether to recycle it today or next time, so I bolted it to the bottom of the bin.”
The Microchips, which use radio frequency identification technology, are installed in the bin handles. Four city waste collection trucks will be equipped to read the Microchips that will be associated with specific street addresses. All the city’s 60,000 households will be added to the program “over several years at a total cost of $1.6 million” — all of it born by the U.S. Taxpayer. The Federal Government awarded Dayton a $1.6 million Energy Efficiency and...
The City I lived in previously had specific instructions on how things could be recycled.
Newspaper needed to be separated and put in paper bags/boxes. Fair enough, besides having a "paper bin" that got tossed every other week made things a little easier for us.
What set me off was when they said "Glass containers / cans / plastics need to be thoroughly rinsed out before placement in the recycling bin."
I draw the line at needing to wash my garbage before I throw it away.
Nevada, a tiny town about 60 miles outside of Vegas.
Stimulus bill that no one read
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