Green Money: Village Requires Cardboard Recycling

Earth Day isn't until April 22, but the village of Malverne is getting a head start in helping to save the planet by implementing a new recycling program beginning this Monday.

As of April 4, the village is requiring all residents to separate their corrugated cardboard (ie. shipping boxes) from the rest of their garbage and place it out Wednesdays for a special pickup.

Any wood, styrofoam, paper or plastic must be removed from the cardboard, which should then be tied into a bundle that one worker could handle or placed in a recycling bin to be left on the curb. (This does not apply to pizza, cereal and juice boxes or similar packaging, which can be tossed out with the rest of residents' trash.)

This will allow the village to recycle more, doing its part to save the planet and go green, but their biggest motivation is saving more green. By recycling the cardboard they'll be able to sell it to generate some revenue while also lowering their waste management expenses by lightening the load they bring to the dump.

"It costs the village $70 a ton to dump garbage," Trustee Joseph Hennessy said.

Each year the village generates over 5,000* tons of garbage from the 3,300 homes in the community, plus the commercial properties.

"We need people to cooperate with us," said Paul Jessup, head of the Malverne Department of Public Works."It's going to be a learning process."

Hennessy said recycling the cardboard is not optional.

"Either everyone is going to be fully cooperative or else...a new local law may go into effect to fine those caught not recycling," he said.

Hennessy said the village could even start charging businesses to pick up their trash to offset the costs if they do not embrace the new recycling policies. Other municipalities currently do this or place the responsibility on the business owners to find a third party to remove their waste.

The village has already lowered their sanitation costs by over $100,000 by joining up with neighboring villages and signing an agreement with a private waste management company that provides this service at a lower price than what the Town of Hempstead had been charging. Still, they hope this new initiative along with others in the pipeline will bring down their sanitation expenses even more.

The DPW will continue to collect yard waste and items containing freon such as refrigerators on Wednesdays, but starting April 6, you'll see a second sanitation truck swing by to retrieve the cardboard. (Don't be calling Village Hall if the first truck passes by without picking up the cardboard.)

In the event of a holiday, residents and businesses will be told to hold their cardboard and yard waste until the following week. Special pick-up items should be placed out on Thursdays and Fridays - and no, residents do not need to call to schedule these anymore.

Sanitation Supervisor Kevin Brady has been working diligently to develop these plans to execute the program without adding any overtime. Earlier this week, Brady and other members of the village and DPW began meeting one-on-one with local merchants to discuss their recycling situations. They plan to start implementing strategies for smaller businesses first because at this time, they don't have the resources to handle those with the most recyclables such as the Malverne Diner.

The village plans to place cardboard-only dumpsters in key locations around town for groups of businesses to use. Those that have little cardboard will be permitted to follow the same protocol as residents, placing it out in bins.

In the future, the businesses will also be required to recycle everything including bottles, cans, newspapers and magazines, but first the village will need to upgrade its equipment and purchase commercial sanitation vehicles to be able to handle this amount of volume.

Those with questions or input about the new program, or who wish to purchase a recycling bin can contact Village Hall at 516-599-1200, extension 106.

*This figure has been corrected.