Recycling material overwhelming the Perry Cabin Park recycling and trash site in St. Michaels.
With people ordering more food and staples online due to the coronavirus, Talbot County residents are generating large quantities of cardboard and packaging at area recycling facilities. Because these recycling stations and dumpsters are being overwhelmed with trash, the County may need to shut down its recycling facilities if residents do not comply with the prohibition of leaving trash outside of recycling units and dumpsters.
According to Ray Clarke, Talbot County Engineer, “Throughout Talbot County, recycling bins have been placed in parking lots of parks and businesses. Some of the heaviest used sites include Perry Cabin Park, and Graul’s Market in St. Michaels, the Amish Market in Easton, the AutoZone parking lot in Easton, bins in the Oxford Park, bins at the Shore Stop in Trappe, along with recycling bins at various firehouses in Cordova and Trappe. Due to residents receiving an increase in shipping boxes, these bins are now full and overflowing regularly.”
Talbot County is one of four counties participating in the Midshore Regional Solid Waste Facility, with the Maryland Environmental Service owning and operating the facility. The other three Mid-Shore counties include Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. Each fiscal year, Talbot County budgets approximately $10,000 to cover labor and pay the landfill tipping fee after picking up litter left at recycling stations. A portion of the tipping fee assessed per ton of trash is allocated to the Mid Shore Recycling Program, which is also owned and operated by the Maryland Environmental Service. Talbot County has a part-time staff member who works on the Recycling Program for Talbot County, with the Maryland Environmental Service assisting about once per week in cleaning up the recycling sites. Some of the heavier used sites are cleaned up twice a week.
According to Clarke, with the coronavirus pandemic, the amount of cardboard and trash being left at the recycling station is increasing daily. This increase of trash being illegally dumped and recyclables being left outside of recycling bins is being blown around the recycling sites, as well as off-site, creating litter throughout the County.
“Also, this increase in illegal dumping of trash and leaving recyclables out of bins is now resulting in increased labor and landfill fees, which is impacting the County’s budget for cleaning up sites. Incurring additional costs during this time is especially difficult as our County budget is addressing so many other needs related to the impact of the coronavirus,” comments Corey Pack, President of the Talbot County Council.
To deal with the increased volume of recycling materials, the County is asking residents to hold onto their recyclables until the recycling bins have been emptied. Placing recycling materials on the ground is littering and violators are subject to the appropriate fines. The County is encouraging citizens to take pictures of the vehicle license plates of people leaving trash on the ground and to forward these pictures to either [email protected] or [email protected]. The names of individuals and businesses leaving boxes with mailing labels outside of recycling bins will be forwarded to the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office for enforcement action.
Clarke states, “The Maryland Environmental Services has installed signage to warn the public about leaving recyclables and trash on the ground in hopes of reducing the littering that is occurring. We need every citizen in Talbot County to help us with this effort by being patient and responsible with their trash and recyclables.”
For further information about the Recycling Program for Talbot County, contact Ray Clarke, Talbot County Engineer in the Department of Public Works at 410-770-8170 or [email protected].
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Howard Hughes says
Gee did the geniuses who encourage us to recycle ever think to add bigger or larger bins to accommodate the increased recycling. Our government has forced us into using more online ordering so they should accommodate for the increase rather than penalizing us for doing what they want
Timothy a ashburn says
Totally agree with this comment. So let the stuff pile in our yards and then be fined for that. Asking the public to take pictures of license plates is absurd. I mean these folks could just drive down the back roads and just dump there? Thats what this is gonna turn into. I think r clarke should be forced to resign and we replace him with someone willing to properly do there job. Totallu assinine
Daniel Faoro says
I’m writing on behalf of Maryland Environmental Service, operator of the above-mentioned homeowner recycling drop-off locations for Talbot County. As in many jurisdictions, related to COVID-19, there has been a big recent surge in homeowner recycling. Working with the county, we took steps weeks ago to address this challenge by substantially increasing the frequency of local collections. This afternoon, the same location pictured in the above photo now looks like this: https://menv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG_0049-scaled.jpeg. Homeowners are welcome to call us at 443-685-4073 (this number is on bins too) with feedback any time. We appreciate the opportunity to be of service in Talbot County.
Johnny Mautz says
Johnny Mautz, local State Delegate, here – I have been in touch the County and MES about this issue — no doubt that recycling has increased and am happy to report that I understand the County has either increased or is increasing recyclable trash removal. I pass the St. Michaels location daily, it was pretty full yesterday but nothing like the picture in this article. As for the comments about taking pictures of individuals and submitting them for enforcement actions – I talked with the Sheriff and this has not been an issue. The trash should be removed in a timely manner to address this problem. Hope this information is helpful . . . . . Be Safe, Health and Happy!!!
Jeff Chandler says
In response to the increased demand, why not increase the number of trips to empty the containers. That would be more helpful than discontinuing the program completely!
Earle Asche says
As a local citizen who unfortunately lives downwind of the recycling bins, I experience quite often the results of items left outside the bins. I have contacted both the Talbot Sheriff’s Office and the Phone number on the bins and basically was ignored. We have a problem with tractor trailers using the same area as the recycling bins as a parking area. This provides a dangerous situation for the people who use the recycling bins. All ages of people use them and one of these days someone is going to be hit. Just in the last few weeks I have seen someone actually clean up and cut the grass around the bins. First time in years. I usually do it. MDE and Ray Clarke are blowing thier own horns as usual.