(Orleans)– Recycling was a major topic of discussion at Monday evening’s Orleans City Council meeting. The council again heard complaints about the recycling drop-off site. The city provides the site for the county in exchange for receiving a stipend. A contract the city has with a service provider that collects and processes the materials expires at the end of this month. Neighbors who live near the site sounded off last (Mon.) night about ongoing illegal dumping at the site…
“I mean if you’re thinking of keeping it, fine. I’m not against recycling. I think it’s fantastic. Would I prefer to go to curbside, absolutely. I am sick of this. We have lived here eight years and we have had nothing but issues. I have pictures from back from three years ago with garbage bags full, as you say, on top of stuff. I have all the pictures here. It’s ridiculous. I mean you’re constantly fighting this battle.”
She called on the city to either go with a curbside program or to take more extensive measures to police the drop-off site…
“Let’s get stern about it because after living here for eight years and loving Orleans. This is ridiculous. It’s still continuously going on. Eight years is too long. Way too long. And it’s affecting our community. We have people who say oh we love to come here and then they look at that and they go oh, and we’re like yeah, we deal with it all of the time. Oh. Well that’s not something to be proud of in Orleans. I love this area. We’re very proud of it. That’s why we stay and that’s why we try very hard to benefit our area and do what we can do.”
A committee of two city council members and the Mayor will meet with county officials to try to come up with something, which could include video surveillance of the site. In the meantime, the service provider has agreed to offer a 30-day contract extension.
