Trash

Waynesboro Borough Manager Lloyd Hamberger is reminding borough residents that yard waste - tree trimmings, hedge trimmings, brush and similar items - will not be collected on a weekly basis. Yard waste will be collected every other week - on opposite weeks of recycling collection. Tree trimmings, hedge trimmings, brush and similar items must be tied in bundles not exceeding four feet in length and 50 pounds in weight, or placed in a container not larger than 32 gallons, separate from other refuse.

Boonsboro town officials are looking for bids from trash haulers to possibly offer curbside recycling in the town. The town's trash-hauling contract expires June 30, said Town Manager Debra Smith. The town formulated a trash-collection bid proposal that contains five options for haulers to consider, Smith said. One option maintains the town's current service, which is twice-a-week garbage collection, Smith said. The four other options include trash collection with curbside recycling, Smith said.

Return postcards to city; say no to recycling containers To the editor: I am a recycler. I recycle nearly everything. I never buy single servings of anything when I shop for food. I drink city water instead of bottled water because it creates no trash. I return my rubber bands and plastic sleeves for reuse by my Herald-Mail carrier. I do this and much more because I am very much concerned about our environment. In the summer of 2009, the city appointed a task force to examine what changes could be made to increase the level of recycling.

Council OKs $28,030 in maintenance for water treatment CLEAR SPRING - The Clear Spring Town Council Monday night approved $28,030 in maintenance procedures for the town's water treatment plant. Clear Spring Mayor Paul D. Hose Jr. said it is routine maintenance for the facility, including the replacement of filters and seals in the town's 24 individual treatment units. The life expectancy of the parts being replaced is about seven to 10 years, he said. Officials from Siemens Industry Inc., will perform the work, Hose said.

A wad of plastic grocery bags. An empty beer can. A discarded juice pouch. For Teresa Everly, these items aren't trash. They're materials just waiting to be turned into a cute stuffed animal, a handy tote or even an eye-catching hat. Everly, a Hagerstown-area mom, won a 2011 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Award from Washington County for her small business, Recycled Crochet, which sells items she makes out of discarded materials. The Washington County Board of Commissioners presented the awards at its meeting Tuesday.

“Hagerstown caller, you're completely ignorant of the truth regarding the payroll tax cut extension issue, and engaged in malicious ... partisan name calling. The House Republicans wanted to extend - repeat, extend the payroll tax cut, not - repeat, not raise the payroll tax. They wanted to give working stiffs a one-year payroll tax cut, instead of the two months - two months, ha - the Democrats wanted and unfortunately got, and they never should have given in.” - Frederick, Md. “Having a senior center is like belonging to a country club, only you've already paid your dues.” - Hagerstown “I see in your Herald-Mail on Monday, Jan. 2, I see where you have the 'Clock (finally)

The City of Hagerstown's decision to send its trash to a landfill in Pennsylvania will cost Washington County's landfill about 10 percent of its tipping fee income, according to a county spokeswoman. In 2011, the city disposed of about 11,820 tons of residential waste at the county-owned Forty West Landfill, paying $603,026 in tipping fees, county spokeswoman Sarah Lankford Sprecher said. But on Jan. 1, the city switched to a new trash-collection contractor, Waste Management of Pennsylvania, which takes the garbage to Mountainview Landfill in Upton, Pa. “It is the prerogative of the city to do what they feel is in their best interest,” Sprecher said.

Changes to Hagerstown's refuse service Starting Sunday, Hagerstown's new refuse service will feature: Weekly trash pickup for most residents. Twice-weekly trash pickup for those in the city center. Weekly single-stream recycling. Seasonal weekly yard waste collection. New recycling totes to be distributed starting in early 2012. A recycling-incentive program to begin by April 2012. An $8 reduction in annual resident refuse bills.

Although some Boonsboro officials have said in the past that they did not believe the town could afford curbside recycling, Mayor Charles F. "Skip" Kauffman Jr. said this week that the service likely will be considered next year. The town's garbage-hauling contract will expire in July, and the town probably will seek new bids for trash service in the spring, Kauffman said during a Boonsboro Town Council meeting Monday night. Kauffman said he expects the council to consider a variety of options for offering curbside recycling and trash pickup.

In hindsight, maybe that should have been a clue to him about how dangerous this book would prove to him and his family. He paid the asking price for the book, thinking that the creepy old tome would be a nice addition to family's Halloween decorations.  At home, he placed it on a wrought-iron book stand and thought no more of it. But on All Hallow's Eve, after everyone was in bed, the evil lurking inside the locked pages began to seep out and spill over. For the book wasn't really a "book" at all, at least not in the normal sense; it was a witches' grimoire.