Recycling

The Hancock Lioness Club hosted Robert Martin, founder of the Global Re-Vision Network, at its Aug. 13 board meeting. His message addressed the importance of recycling/donating eyeglasses. His message: Refractive error is a vision impairment that can be corrected with eyeglasses. It afflicts nearly two-thirds of the world's population, more than 4 billion people (nearsighted, farsighted, astigmatism, presbyopia). More than 2 billion of them have no access to eye care and/or cannot afford eyeglasses.

ln 1925, Helen Keller challenged Lions to be “knights of blind in the crusade against darkness” during the association's international convention. Today, Lions Clubs are recognized for their service to the blind and vision impaired. Lions demonstrate their commitment to sight conservation through eyeglass recycling, sight partnerships and many other sight services. On June 27, Bob Martin of the Myersville (Md.) Lions Club gave a slide presentation on the recycling of eyeglasses.

Both the developer of a recycling center in Waynesboro's South End and opponents to the project are anxiously awaiting local government decisions on how the project can proceed. Waynesboro's zoning hearing board is expected to make a key decision about Redemption Recycling's fence on Thursday. The borough council might vote on conditional use permits Aug. 15. If approved, Shon Duty wants to open Redemption Recycling at 206 Madison Ave. for two purposes. It would not only be a stand-alone business, but also a testing facility and showcase for the hardware and software he sells for salvage yards.

Recycling in Washington County has increased with the emergence of curbside pickup by private companies, according to a county analysis. The county has determined, through rough calculations, that recycling participation through various means might be up more than 15 percent from 2011. For recycling, Washington County has decided on a middle ground between doing nothing and making it a mandatory, tax-supported service. Washington County Administrator Gregory B. Murray said the county asked local trash haulers about the possibility of recycling-only curbside pickup, instead of offering it as part of trash-hauling package.

ObamaCare must be immediately repealed To the editor: I see the Supreme Court has ended the suspense about the legality of Obamacare. What we should bear in mind is that, if Congress has the power to enact this law, it also has the power to repeal or amend it. I suggest that Congress get to work on the latter immediately. Three major flaws in this law must be addressed: 1. It is easy to decree medical care for X million people, but we cannot instantly create thousands of additional live doctors and nurses to provide that care.

Hours of testimony were offered Wednesday during a public hearing about a recycling center proposed at 206 Madison Ave. in the Borough of Waynesboro. Redemption Recycling, which would be part of the Kaimon Group, would offer recycling of nonferrous materials like aluminum, brass and copper. The recycling center also is asking permission to handle appliances. Classified as a junkyard under local ordinance, the recycling center would be a “conditional use” on the industrially zoned land that used to be The Lumber Yard.

Curbside recycling will start next month in Boonsboro, but sanitation fees will remain unchanged due to projected savings on landfill tipping fees and a grant from local author Nora Roberts, Councilwoman Barbara Wetzel said. Letters explaining the recycling program were being mailed out last week and recycling containers are to be dropped off at homes in the last week of June, Wetzel said last week. The containers will come with fliers detailing what items can and cannot be recycled, she said.

“If Mr. Greg Murray's analysis (see Sunday, May 20 article in The Herald-Mail) of the cost of recycling versus benefit, is anywhere near accurate, I would not only incur a cost to recycle, but as a taxpayer, I would also pay even more for the net $90 million of landfill costs.” - Washington County “It was mind-boggling to read Mr. Metzner state most of his emails were in favor of the stadium. Doesn't he read the paper, for the citizens' view? Again, because of costs, noise, parking and location.

Advocates of a county-backed curbside recycling program often cite Frederick County's program as a model. Annmarie Creamer, recycling outreach program coordinator for Frederick County, provided the following answers to questions about Frederick County's program. Q. When did Frederick County institute a curbside recycling program? A. Frederick County's curbside recycling service began as a pilot program for 4,000 homes in 1991. It has since grown to include all single-family homes, making over 74,500 households eligible to participate.

Since deciding in January to scale back county recycling to promote use of private curbside pickup, the Washington County Board of Commissioners has faced criticism from both sides of the issue. To some, the solution - a private, opt-out curbside pickup program - did not seem comprehensive or compulsory enough; to others, not voluntary enough. Meanwhile, the decision to restrict access to the county's drop-off recycling bins and to begin charging to use them has led to concerns that frustrated users will stop recycling altogether.