The proposed two-year contract would pay Waste Management of Greater Washington Inc. $6.9 million to collect glass, metal, newspaper, plastic and cardboard from city residences on the same day and site as trash collection. That price is about 15 percent less than a contract rejected by council last May.

Waste Management and its sub-contractor, Eagle Maintenance, a local minority-owned recycler, expect to collect 20,000 tons of recycleables from 100,000 households each year.

"There is already support in council for it," said Councilman Harry Thomas, D-Ward 5, chairman of the council’s Committee on Public Works and the Environment. "There is a mood out there that the people need it. It should have been done long ago."

The contract also requires approval from the D.C. financial control board.

The District has been without residential recycling pickup since December 1996. A contract that was supposed to provide recycling services at no cost to the city began incurring costs of more than $200,000 per month and was subsequently cancelled.

"In the 10 years since the city has had a recycling law, we’ve had an actual operating program for less than 47 months," said local Sierra Club spokesman Jim Dougherty. "It’s obvious the city has not had a commitment to the program."

An $8 million contract proposal put forward in May 1997 was withdrawn a few days later because council members felt it was too expensive. That contract would have paid contractors $204 per ton. The new contract price is $174 per ton.

The currently proposed contract includes new 18-gallon recycling bins, which will be distributed free to residents. Instructions will be stamped on the side of the bin. Businesses and apartment buildings with more than four units are not included in the program.

Previous recycling efforts in the District were stymied by several changes in contractors.

"Every time we had a new vendor, there were new rules," said Rudi Schreiber, an aide to Thomas. "It was start and stop and there was a very low participation rate. Participation will grow when people learn how to do it."

Recycling is mandatory, although compliance has never been enforced, Schreiber said.

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator