Delay sought in fines for nonrecyclable items

Mt. Lebanon is asking its garbage hauler for a sixmonth delay in assessing fines to the municipality related to contaminated recycling loads.

Municipal officials recently met with Waste Management — along with other communities that make up the South Hills Area Council of Governments — regarding the extension.

Starting in January, Mt. Lebanon could face fines for contaminated recycling loads in accordance with its contract with Waste Management.

Ian McMeans, municipal assistant manager/ planner, said at Tuesday’s commissioners discussion session that Waste Management was to begin tagging residents’ recycling bins in January of this year if they contained items that were not recyclable.

For example, if drivers picking up the garbage see a pizza box on top of the recycle bin, they were to “tag” the bin to let the resident know that pizza boxes are not recyclable.

Mr. McMeans said SHACOG sent a letter to Waste Management asking for a six- month delay on fines levied because tagging did not begin until this month.

He added that the contamination rate of Mt. Lebanon’s recycling has gone down from 30% in 2018 to 18% so far in 2019.

In a related matter, Rudy Sukal, public works director, said Mt. Lebanon is averaging nearly seven complaints per day for the last two months from residents saying their garbage was not picked up or that there was a problem with their pickup.

“We’re seeing parts of streets or entire streets being missed,” Mr. Sukal said.

He said Waste Management has 24 hours to pick up a missed collection but often is not picking up the missed garbage until late the next day.

Laura Pace Lilly, Mt. Lebanon public information officer, proposed a plan to inform residents about what can and cannot be recycled, which includes publishing an article in Mt. Lebanon Magazine, putting up flyers and posters on recycling, updating information on the municipal website, and sending direct- mail postcards to residents.

Her proposal would cost about $ 5,500, which would come from the 2019 budget. She said $ 20,000 was set aside for recycling education in the budget, none of which has been used thus far.

Ms. Lilly also introduced the idea of an app that residents could download to their mobile devices that would keep them informed of their garbage and recycling collection days and what can and cannot be recycled. The app, called Recollect, would cost $ 9,500 per year.

In other business, commissioners will consider the purchase of new police and fire radio equipment on July 23.

Police Chief Aaron Lauth said the current portable and mobile radios are between 10 and 15 years old.

The cost of the new radios from Motorola for both the police and fire departments would be $ 425,477.