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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD Do you avoid recycling because you don't want to separate paper from plastic from metal? Or because you don't like carrying bins of material to the curb? You may not have either excuse if a pilot program announced by Mayor Domenic Sarno on Tuesday proves successful. Homeowners in a section of East Forest Park will receive blue bins for recyclables on Sept. 20. These bins are the same as standard city-issued garbage cans, only blue. They will be able to put all of the recyclables in it without sorting. The first collection date would be Oct. 3. The city only has a recycling rate of about eight percent and Sarno explained the pilot program should encourage greater recycling, which in turn would lower the city's trash removal costs. The program would not, if implemented citywide, eliminate the current trash fee, Steve Lisauakas, executive director of the Finance Control Board, added. Sarno, who conducted the press conference at the Western Massachusetts Recycling Facility on Tuesday, said the city's recycling rate was "barely on the radar." He added the pilot program is "a bold move," but the city will move slowly and monitor it closely. The bins were already in the city's inventory and no additional funding was used for the pilot program. Greg Suprenaut, the city's recycling coordinator, said the bins will triple the capacity of a single blue recycling box and will allow the city to semi-automate the collection of the materials. He explained the East Forest Park neighborhood was chosen by city officials so they could study the amounts of trash and recyclables more precisely. Suprenaut said that recycling rates are usually lower in larger cities, but a one bin system such as this one -- or single stream system -- has shown to be effective in Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Conn., and Denver, Col. The first evaluation of the program will happen one month after implementation, Suprenaut said. Sarno could not predict, if the program is successful, when it would be used citywide. |