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WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Absence of a quorum meant township officials were unable to conduct business in a special meeting Monday night.
One councilman had a death in the family, but two others had not sent any reason or notification of a likely absence, Council President Mary Yuknavich noted before cancelling the meeting.
Plans had been to discuss aspects of a proposed Refuse Disposal Ordinance that will be brought up before council for initial consideration at a special meeting Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m., a day later than normal due to the Labor Day holiday.
The Refuse Disposal Ordinance will effectively call for mandatory recycling, Township Administrator Michael Revitt said after the meeting.
The township already collects commingled metal and newspaper, as well as leaf waste, but because it takes more than $10,000 in performance grants from the state Department of Environmental Protection it has been mandated to broaden its recycling.
The new recycling rules will add various plastic and glass waste for business and residential properties, and include high-grade office paper for business collection.
Revitt said it was likely the measure would not come into effect before January, because it was important to give businesses an opportunity to set up well-considered collection plans, rather than force them into hurried moves.
Because of the rules set down by the state, the businesses must arrange for monitoring of the amount of recycling that they generate, he said. Residential collections will be done by township trash collector JP Mascaro, and those figures will be added to those already collected by the company.
State funds are set to cover the full costs of the recycling program through 2012, and if they are discontinued after that the township would re-examine the program, he said.