To the Editor:

At the Nov. 19 Heidelberg Township meeting, Berger Sanitation gave supervisors an ultimatum to get rid of the recycling bins at the township building or gate and man the facility.

Funny thing is Berger owns the bins. Seems illegal dumping has gotten so bad Berger himself would rather lose money than have to deal with the cleanup.

There is one other option; that being the creation of an ordinance that would require mandatory garbage pickup with curbside recycling included for free.

Chairman of the Board Steve Bachman made a statement at the end of the discussion referring to people using the bins as “Ors**e Lo**s.”

When it was posted as such this week at the township, I had to respond to the press.

In March 2008 Heidelberg Township had bins in both Heidelberg and Lynn townships, which were contracted to Carbon County Recyclables.

The cost to the township was $15,000 per year. I questioned why Heidelberg had bins in Lynn Township, and why we were paying our employees to clean up scrap dumped there.

Not only was it a waste of taxpayer money, it was also a violation of the DEP’s Act 101, Section 904 Recycling Performance Grant, which stated tonnage reports were to be from the hosting municipality only.

At the April 2008 meeting Supervisor Steve Bachman reported, “Curbside recycling is really picking up.”

He also suggested, “the new arrangement was a way to wean the township residents off centralized recycling.”

He said, “I didn’t want to get rid of the current centralized recycling,” but his mind was changed by the cost savings set forth by Berger Sanitation.

The curbside recycling never came to fruition even though Berger was offering free curbside recycling, if the township would have created an ordinance for mandatory garbage pickup.

Since 2009, the township has paid for six bins provided by Berger Sanitation at a cost of $1,200 per month equating to $14,400 of taxpayer money per year.

This fee was paid since 2009 for a total expenditure of $86,400 (minus a slight reimbursement through the grant).

All the while, people were dumping “garbage” at the unmanned site, not just recyclables.

Next time you see one of your supervisors think about the sign at the township building and the professionalism leading our township.

And for all of our residents who can’t speak Pennsylvania Dutch and don’t know what “Ors**e Lo**s” are, I will be happy to translate. It means a** h***s!

You fill in the blanks.

Arnold Metzger

Heidelberg

Township