Since the Village of East Rockaway’s Department of Public Works stopped collecting all recyclables at once in January, resident Vicki Perlman said she has noticed that at least three of the houses she passes on her daily drive to the Centre Avenue train station usually have the wrong recyclables out. She also noted that about 75 percent of the houses do not have any items out for a truck to collect at all, likely because of confusion created by an amended schedule for pick ups.
The changes began when the department’s regular truck — which had the ability to pick up all recyclables at once because it had separate compartments to sort them — was deemed unusable because of damage. That caused the village to release a schedule where only certain items would be picked up on specific days. To ease the confusion, village officials say they are looking for a way to once again collect all the recyclables at once.
“We’re looking to see if we can go back towards single stream,” said Kevin Conklin, the supervisor of the Department of Public Works.
Getting a used truck that could sort recyclables — paper, plastic and glass — is an expensive venture, but it is an option village officials are looking into every day, according to Conklin. If they do, not only would residents be able to put out all recyclables at the same time, but the village would also make more money from the recycling facility that processes the waste. “It’s not worth anything right now to crush glass,” Conklin said.
He added that the village is working to get a used single-stream truck before the 2018 budget goes into effect, and can do so as soon as the recycling facility gives village officials permission to go back to a single-stream recycling schedule like the one that was in effect before January.