Recycling Update

It's going to be difficult to resume recycling in our community. A number of different obstacles conspire against the effort.

First is where to put any recycling dumpster(s). Waste Management, our garbage collector, says the recycling bin would be a dumpster similar in size to the garbage dumpsters we have. We'd put all of our recyclables into that dumpster and Waste Management would sort it out later.

There few places where we could put a dumpster would take up parking spaces. Such a change, the HOA board believes, would require a meeting which at least 79 owners attend (30% of all of our 268 units) to vote on the matter.

Normally fewer than a dozen people attend HOA meetings.

If we got past that hurdle, next up is building an enclosure for the recycling dumpster like the ones that contain our garbage dumpsters. County rules say we have to keep it from public view*. An owner at the last meeting tossed out a cost of $12,000. I don't know how accurate that is but at even half of that, the price is significant.

Some owners at Thursday's HOA meeting warned that the recycling dumpster area could become a safety hazard, noting that people often can't be bothered to put trash inside the garbage dumpsters. What happens when these same people leave glass outside the recycling bin?

Owners at the meeting liked the idea of recycling and even thought it would be worth having one or two sites in the community where they could take their recyclables. The HOA board did not shut the door on the possibility, but does not know where to go from here.

Your ideas are welcome. E-mail them to board@stcharlesplace.us. You can also connect with board members and your other fellow owners on our new Facebook page.

*Hillsborough County Solid Waste Ordinance 96-34, Section IV-5 states:

"All Commercial Customer collection Containers and/or central Containers, whether supplied by the Franchise Collector or the Commercial Customer, shall be kept on private property in a place easily accessible to the Franchise Collector and in such locations as to prevent a nuisance condition to inhabitants and the general public. Containers shall be set back from adjacent properties or rights-of-way as determined by the County. Adequate screening from public view shall be provided either by locating the Container as close to the building as possible or by providing other concealment to be least noticeable from a public thoroughfare. The Container shall be placed so as to not interfere with the movement of pedestrian and vehicular traffic."