Messy Dumping Leads To Removal Of Recycling Bins

SNOW HILL - Bishopville dwellers
will no longer be able to recycle within the community beginning in October,
after the county decided to remove recycling containers from the Bishopville
drop-off facility.

Worcester County is
planning a new homeowners drop-off facility at a different site. The new site
will be attended and will only be open certain hours.

The current recycling site in
Bishopville is notorious among county public works staff for inappropriate
materials deposited as recycling, trash and heavy use by Delaware residents.

Public Works Director John
Tustin relayed to the County
Commissioners on Tuesday
that just that morning he had stopped a man from dumping several old fishing
rods in one of the Bishopville containers.

'I said, •€˜sir, this is exactly
why I'm ready to pull these containers',' Tustin
told the commissioners.

Tustin said he
is not blaming the community, but noted that Delaware residents come to that facility all
the time.

Public works staff spends at
least four days a week at the Bishopville drop-off center cleaning up.
Recently, staff found four containers full of trash at the Bishopville drop-off
site.

'We decided to take it into the
recycling center and hand pick,' said Tustin,
who feels strongly the staff should not have to do that.

From October until the new
facility is ready in late spring or early summer, Bishopville residents will
need to take their recycling to Berlin
or Whaleyville.

'I recommend during the interim
the containers be removed,' Tustin
said Tuesday.

Tustin said staff could do it the next
day, Wednesday.

'You need to give •€˜em some
notice,' Commission President Virgil Shockley said.

'Give them to the end of the
month,' Commissioner Jim Purnell suggested.

A sign will be posted with the
final day and information on alternate drop-off sites at the Route 50 Wal-Mart
and in Berlin
and Whaleyville.

The commissioners also voted to
exempt the new drop-off site from zoning regulations requiring 200-foot
setbacks from the property line of the county land to be used, which cannot be
met.

'I have received numerous calls
about the container overflow and the trash that's left behind,' said
Commissioner Linda Busick who represents the area. 'We certainly do need this
new facility.'