Does anyone know why Seven Oaks is going to only one trash pickup (on Tuesdays) beginning in June? I think that's absolutely the worst time to cut back--just as the rubbish bakes in the trash cans, making a stinking, maggoty mess for homeowners to handle! That's bad enough for single-family homes whose back yards are on the same level as their fronts--but in townhomes, many kitchens are on the ground level in the front, and the second level in the back . . . so you either put your trash out on the deck (and carry it carefully through the house) or you have to go downstairs to put it out (and take it out), then haul it uphill over very resistant clumps of grass. If this is another one of O'Malley's revenue-raising schemes, I'm all for tossing him out with the rest of it.

@ Carol, it's not only the Seven Oaks community that is moving to a once weekly pick up. The entire county will be on the new schedule! I believe it's an effort to increase the overall participation in recycling. Here is a link with additional details....http://www.aacounty.org/DPW/WasteManagement/Resources/OnceAWeek.pdf

Just realized that "details" became part of your link! Without it, it works: http://www.aacounty.org/DPW/WasteManagement/Resources/OnceAWeek.pdf

"Beginning June 2012 - trash, recycling, and yard
waste collections will occur on your current recycling
day only. More and more residents are recycling 50%
of everything they throw away and are now successfully
using only one of their two weekly trash collection days
for their disposal needs. This initiative will enable the
County to save on what has now become a wasteful
collection cost. The savings will be used to reduce the
fee County residents pay for trash and recycling-related
services.
• Buy only what you need.
• Consider donating useable clothing and household items
to churches, charitable organizations, an online network,
or anyone who could use them.
• Compost food scraps and yard waste to decrease trash
and produce a valuable soil amendment.
• Take the 50/50 Challenge at home. Strive to fill more
recycling containers than trash cans."

Just as I thought. While the benefits are supposedly to the taxpayers, the only *true* beneficiary will be the *county*! All very fine for the people who live in single-family homes--but what about the rest of us????

"Reduces the current residential Solid Waste Fee,
saving taxpayer dollars.aving taxpayer dollars.
• Promotes more recycling.
• Saves valuable landfi ll space.
• Helps achieve the County goal of recycling at least
50% of all curbside waste.
• All material will be collected on the same day.
• Fewer collection vehicles on the road each week,
leading to less traffic, reduced vehicle emissions,
and less wear on County roads."

You'd better believe they're going to hear from me in the morning! Let them save the money Leopold's been using for his police-escorted trysts instead.

Nice idea on the savings but perhaps they'll be using it for his defense! ;)

I think this is a good idea and hope the concept is positive. I am not a recycler but am willing to try to help in this small way. We'll see how it goes!

What defense?? His behavior was indefensible!!

Meanwhile, while I commend their reverence for ecology (especially when it frees up funds we've already paid to use for other "benevolent" purposes)--

Leopold and O'Malley advise you to
• Buy only what you need. [Because of course, as we all know, they and the rest of the federal and state governments do]
• Consider donating useable clothing and household items to churches, charitable organizations, an online network, or anyone who could use them. [You mean--like us and our neighbors, thanks to you and your tax increases?]
• Compost food scraps and yard waste to decrease trash and produce a valuable soil amendment. [Who says we aren't doing this now??]
• Take the 50/50 Challenge at home. Strive to fill more recycling containers than trash cans."

We'll soon be doing that by default--because we won't be able to afford to eat!

Just as I thought. While the benefits are supposedly to the taxpayers, the only *true* beneficiary will be the *county*! The stench alone is likely to be enough to choke you. I used to drive by a landfill on the Belt Parkway in Queens (NY) in the summer. You had to hold your breath . . .
And won't it be fun when the squirrels and racoons and feral cats get into it??!

I have no garage in which to keep a recycle bin. Maybe I should put it in my living room? Or maybe, at not-very-far-from-senior-citizenship, Leopold and O'Malley would like me to haul that up the hill for them, too?

I am not a happy camper, at the moment.

Recycling is a great cause, I don't see what all the complaining is about. I think it's appalling that I am the only house in my row of townhomes that recycles. It's just lazy if you don't, there's really no excuse. BTW, I don't have a garage and keep my bins on my deck, no big deal. And, I can't stand O'Malley, but don't really see why he is even being brought up. Put out your yellow bins, it's simple!

You're probably a good deal younger than I am, Andrea. Want to come haul my garbage can up the hill after a week's worth of garbage in the rain or the snow? Have at it. Last time I checked, the state capitol was Annapolis, and I'm pretty sure that that's in Anne Arundel County. (What a coincidence!)

If anyone would like to voice his or her opinion on the subject directly to "the powers that be," an e-mail contact form is available at http://www.aacounty.org/DPW/ContactDPW.cfm.

I think this is an awesome effort to increase recycling! Anne Arundel residents have no idea how fortunate we are to live in a county with such an outstanding recycling program. There's no reason to have trash pickup more than once a week with all of the items the County accepts in the recycling. I think everyone needs to double check their trash bins and reassessing what should be disposed of as recyclables! The County accepts nearly everything (except food) as recyclable - aluminum foil, paper plates, all kinds of plastics. There's really no reason to have trash pickups twice a week! PS - recyclables are lighter than the trash, since there's no liquids! Take a look at what you're throwing out and start recycling more!!!

While I truly understand the frustration, I have to say that Anne Arundel County makes recycling as easy as they can. When I lived in Germany I had FIVE different colored cans: trash (picked up every OTHER week), white glass, colored glass, metal, paper and in some locations a SIXTH for compostable material.
You received a letter at the beginning of the year and needed to keep it handy so you could remember which bin went out on which day (some were collected every other week, some monthly and some quarterly). People usually built a "trash/recycling can corral" or bought something like a Rubbermaid "building" if they wanted to hide the cans.
Annually you had to purchase a trash sticker (like on your license plate) and the cost depended on what SIZE container you had). Without a valid sticker, they wouldn't pick up your trash! Oh, and the trash can was placed in a locked area so other people didn't put trash in it! Apartment dwellers had to carry a key to access the trash area. All recycling was FREE and the cans didn't need to be locked up.
SOOOOOOOO after living with that for a total of six years, I find it refreshing to put ALL my recycling in a single bin. When I recycle, I find that the trash can isn't as heavy. If I know something is going to be smelly (meat scraps) - I put it in a bag in the freezer before it gets "yucky" and pull it out on my way to take the trash can to the curb.

Carol, welcome to l "tea party politics" local style. Raising taxes to provide services is a no-no, so you will just have to suck it up with less service. If you need your garbage hauled up the hill cause you are older then hire someone to do it. the government is not responsible for your age or the inconvenience that recycling causes you. If you don't like it hire a private garbage hauler.

Chet, what has always fascinated me about the liberal point of view is that, though the things it espouses are often good, desirable, and beneficial (integrated schools, more humane treatment of prisoners, social programs like the federal 8(a) small/small-disadvantaged business initiative, and so on), the methods it uses to implement such "benefits" are deplorable. Andrea's and Melody's responses are insensitive to the hardships this "wonderful recycling program" creates for people who are not situated as they are: the elderly, the infirm, the people who live in townhomes without garages and a steep drop between their front and back doors, and so on. The county isn't doing this for the "ecology"--they're doing it for REVENUE, which is supposedly coming back to us in the form of cost-savings (don't hang waiting). My community association did announce the change (which is how I found out about it)--but, curiously, there was no companion statement to suggest that our monthly HOA fees would be reduced accordingly--and I'm still waiting for Leopold to tell us when our assessments (which are already highly inflated for today's market) are going to be reduced. I would love to hear how "fortunate" I am "to live in a county with such an outstanding recycling program," because you're right, Melody--

I have absolutely no idea, especially when the wind and the feral cats and rodents and stray dogs strew the contents of my neighbors' recycling bins all over the parking lot, and the sanitation men just leave it where it lies. Do tell me?

I am "for" recycling in principle, but not at the expense of stinking, mouldering maggoty garbage rotting in the 90+F summer sun--and not if I have to risk injuring an already bad back trying to haul it uphill, especially in rain or snow--so I'll tell you what I propose. I'll walk down and up the stairs every time I need to dispose of something to put it in the trash bin or the recycling box, and Melody and Andrea can take turns coming to my house on Monday nights to haul it up the hill for me. That would make it a wonderful program in my eyes, indeed--but it still won't address the smell and the mess.

Carol, please do not assume you know about the circumstances of others and claim my responses are insensitive. I still cannot believe you have negative comments to make. You assume I am young because I recycle? How ludicrous. I am not young (young at heart, mind you), I have a very bad back and I also own a townhome with no garage and no steps on my deck. It's not "easy" to recycle, but it certainly isn't hard by any means. I make it work because it is good for our environment. My parents even recycle and have for years. Not that this even matters, but before you start classifying me as a "liberal" (which I am sure you will since I disagree with your opinion), I am a Republican. Although recycling isn't a liberal or conservative thing, it's a community endeavor for a better environment for our children.

I neither classified you as anything, nor presumed to know your circumstances, Andrea, and neither did I assume you were young because you recycle (indeed--how ludicrous, since in the past I have done so regularly myself). Your response claiming "not to understand what all the complaining was about" was insensitive to my circumstances. *You* may want to haul a filthy, and sometimes dripping, recycle bin through your dining room and living room over wall-to-wall carpeting to the street--but I don't. I don't even consider it particularly hygenic to carry my garbage bag through, but I have no choice (and I double-bag it if necessary to contain any "nasties"). Your political persuasion is of no concern to me--and in fact I was referring to the crafters of this brilliant legislation and the apologists who put the "reasons" for it on the DPW website. My only comment concerning you was that since you think it's such a wonderful idea, perhaps you'd like to come and take out my rubbish and recycle bin for me.

The county should have gone to once a week trash pickup a long time ago, just like the post office should have eliminated Saturday mail delivery a long time ago. Continuing to have Saturday mail delivery when you're losing billions and billions and billions is entirely ludicrous. The only reason why we still have Saturday mail delivery is because of the postal worker unions.

You will all regret the once a week trash pick up when you have to smell your neigbors trash (as well as your own)....I don't know how everybody thinks this is going to increase recycling that's ridiculous - you are still going to have the same amount of trash whether it is in a recylcing can or NOT! NOW what isn't suitable for recycling will sit there for a week instead of a few days - that should smell just great when we have had a few 100 degree days - and then what happens to the guy who isn't home or forgets to put his trash out - it will sit there for two weeks! In my neighboorhood (Mago Vista) our trash people come before 6:00 am every week (even though they are not supposed to - so if you don't put your trash out at night you are screwed! hope my neighbor enjoys smelling that! hope all you idiots who support this stupid effort get to smell your neighbors trash!

Really? What is everyone throwing away that's such a mess? Our family of 4 puts out one small can of garbage each week-- 2 or 3 bags inside. Aside from the meat trays, things don't get very smelly. It sounds as if there is a lot of food going to waste in the bins but this is America so not surprising.

Our driveway is very long and we put everything in our car to go to the street for pickup. I know exactly how smelly our trash is or is not. I rinse out our milk containers and such even though it's not required anymore.

I appreciate that it might be a hardship for some people to store trash longer because of space issues, but aside from that issue, make two trips to put out the trash on pickup day. It's the same weight and distance as you had before. The trash doesn't multiply just by cutting the pickup. What increases is your awareness of how much you throw away.

Or dogs. And "aside from that issue" is a big "aside." I don't have a driveway--much less one so long that I have to drive the length of it to put out my rubbish--which is precisely the point. Walk for a while in my shoes before you tell me how "lazy" I am for not wanting to recycle here in the glorious state of Maryland--though I have at previous residences in other states. I'm diabetic--so I eat a lot of chicken and fish. Ever smell chicken blood--even rinsed from the trays--after it's baked in the heat for a couple of days? How about chopped chuck--or fish?

I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how much I'm going to "save" because of the 50% reduction in trash collection, and the 50% reduction in wear and tear on the roads--as well as why I'm so "lucky" to live in a state that would tax the air I breathe if it could just figure out how to do so, and why I'm so "fortunate" to be among people who value recycling more than public hygiene and health?

At the last Seven Oaks Board of Director's meeting, Mark Chang from AA County Community and Constituent Services (mchang@aacounty.org) was there to brief everyone about the change to the trash pickup schedule and indicated that the change was being made due to budget constraints. Seven Oaks does not allow storage of trash cans or recycle bins outside of single family homes. So to go along with Carol, now there will be a weeks worth of stinky trash and recyclables inside my garage that is already too small.