Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Suggestion for boosting recycling in Newfield

This one should help out the businesses in town.  Right now, the businesses who pay  a fee for trash pickup were delivered a recycling cart.  They were also told that if they wanted to get rid of cardboard, to call for a special pickup (think liquor store).  Not all the small businesses in town pay a fee for town pickup but rather pay for a dumpster from a private company, consequently their recycling goes into a trash dump. Of course, this is not good for the environment but  I can understand a business point of view of "why should I pay Newfield twice when I already pay real estate taxes?"

My suggestion is that Public Works supply Newfield businesses with up to one free cart of trash pickup in exchange for recycling.  If a business needs more room for trash than what fits in a single cart, then they can pay a small fee per cart for additional trash carts.  If they don't recycle then they pay for trash pickup.

Whether the business is paying directly taxes directly or indirectly through rent shouldn't make a difference.  We need to encourage more business in town and we need to encourage recycling. I can sort of understand the position of forcing the businesses to pay for trash pickup when Newfield was paying someone else to collect trash, but I have a much harder time now. 

Perhaps someone on Borough Council can do a cost/benefit analysis?  There is a least one apartment building in town and recycling from apartments can be a big winner just like it is for households in town.

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