FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2020
Ulster County
Resource Recovery Agency Continues to Make Recycling More Difficult and Costly
in the City of Kingston
KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble
issues a statement directed at the current Board of the Ulster County Resource
Recovery Agency (UCRRA) after receiving communication
apprising him of a recently adopted resolution of the Board which affects the
City. Mayor Noble was made aware via phone call from UCRRA Executive Director
Tim Rose that on Monday the UCRRA Board adopted a resolution negatively
impacting both the collection process and the City’s budget. The resolution
adopted a new, increased fee for cardboard collection without any
notification or request for comment by the City of Kingston officials or
residents. This is in clear conflict with the procedures outlined in Local
Law Number 4, Section 6, promulgating Rules and Regulations of the Agency.
Statement from Mayor Noble: “The Ulster
County Resource Recovery Agency, since its initial efforts to dissolve its
single stream recycling initiative has continued to turn its back on the
residents of the City of Kingston. The City of Kingston is the Agency’s largest
individual municipal customer and has seemingly done everything it can to make
recycling in our municipality harder and more expensive.
We recognize that the recycling market has
changed and may not be the money maker that it once was, but we have paid and
continue to pay our fair share in refuse costs -- $105 a ton, which is up from
the $73 dollars a ton in 2012. Those additional dollars have been put into an agency
slush fund instead of being invested in upgrading recycling operations.
Since 2010, the Agency has
allowed the City of Kingston to pick up residential mixed paper, including
cardboard, or “hard mix.” The Agency’s decision this week to charge for “hard
mix” is the latest unscrupulous tactic in mismanaging and gouging our community
on recycling fees. The Agency is proposing to charge almost $50 a ton for our
mixed paper material. Currently, the City is not charged for its recycling, and
in fact, UCRRA gets paid almost $50 a ton for the cardboard collected from
Kingston businesses and keeps 100% of those funds.
Now, in the midst of a
pandemic, when there has been a marked increase in online purchasing, and as a
result more cardboard, the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency wants to
penalize the City of Kingston. These penalties will effect families who are
essential front line workers, those who have been laid off, and all those who
are working to make ends meet, by charging additional fees simply because they
have been ordering online out of necessity.”
Today, Mayor Noble calls on
the Board of the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency to immediately rescind
this poorly conceived resolution before it takes effect on June 1st and to
pledge to stop taking advantage of the City of Kingston for its best efforts to
responsibly manage solid waste.