New schedule begins Monday, Aug. 1

By Jeff Simms

For the occasionally forgetful Beacon resident, the weeknight panic goes something like this:

“Is it recycling this week, or just trash? What was last week? What are the neighbors putting out? Maybe they remember!”

Or, in some cases:

“What if I’m out of town on a recycling week? What if there’s a holiday? What do I do with all of this stuff?”

Fear no more, Beacon. Beginning Aug. 1, recycling will be picked up weekly, just like the garbage, no guesswork required.

The switch, which was tested in a few Beacon neighborhoods this spring, could save the city money. Currently, the city pays Royal Carting Service almost $56,000 per month for garbage pickup. Royal collects the recycling, as well, hauling it to ReCommunity Beacon on Fishkill Avenue. ReCommunity then pays the city $15 for each ton of material it receives.

“The theory is that recycling tonnage will increase” with weekly pickups, and the city will be paid more, explained City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero. Regardless, he said, “we still think it’s a valuable service to the city.”

Ruggiero said that orange-top recycling containers should be placed curbside along with household trash each week the night before your regularly scheduled collection day.

Guidelines on top of the carts state what can be recycled. Glass, plastic, aluminum, steel, paper and cardboard don’t need to be separated or bagged. Aluminum foil, plastic grocery bags, auto or window glass and hazardous materials are among the items not accepted.

Each year, Royal Carting collects more than 1,000 tons of bottles, cans and other materials for recycling from communities throughout the Hudson Valley that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Beacon residents can find more information at cityofbeacon.org and royalcarting.com.

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Simms has covered Beacon for The Current since 2015. He studied journalism at Appalachian State University and has reported for newspapers in North Carolina and Maryland. Location: Beacon. Languages: English. Area of expertise: Beacon politics

One reply on “Beacon to Start Picking Up Recycling Weekly”

  1. Correction: ReCommunity no longer pays Beacon $15/ton for recycling, although at one time it did. Cold Spring uses the same company and it, too, receives nothing for the recycled materials it collects every Friday morning and delivers to the Beacon facility.

    This does not mean recycling is a waste of time and money. Far from it. Cold Spring waste that is recycled, for example, does not have to be hauled to Peekskill to be incinerated, at a cost of about $90/ton. The great mystery is why there is so little interest by Cold Spring’s Board in following up on the solid waste management recommendations in the Village’s 2012 Comprehensive Plan. Those recommendations are to consider paying for garbage collection and recycling through user fees, just as residents pay for water and sewer, and not property taxes. The great advantage is that it would then be possible for the Village to set up systems that offered incentives to recycle.
    Those who generated less garbage would pay less (just as water meters allow those who consume less water to pay less, and gives everyone a reason to be frugal). If the Village — by offering savings to those who recycled — boosted the proportion of village recycling from the current 30% (roughly) to half of all solid waste, tax payers would net a savings of $20 – 30,000 annually. And the potential could be even greater: Many communities recycle more than 75% of their trash. Why is no one looking into this?

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