It’s the day before the election. The local Republican candidates are making a last minute “FUD” (Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt) attack on the Democrats on the Board. Unfortunately, instead of an honest debate, they’re resorting to making up stories out of whole cloth about what the Commissioners have said and done.

One of the topics they’re misrepresenting is the Board’s current examination of recycling options for the Township. Frank Noyes, 3rd ward, sent out this message today:

Republicans have made it a key point in their campaigns to attack the current Democratic Board’s efforts to improve the township’s recycling program, using misinformation and ignoring the facts.

The latest attack came in candidate Mike Dougherty’s (1st ward) letter to the editor of the Delaware County Times, published just two days before the election.  Dougherty’s letter repeats some of the same erroneous claims previously made by my Republican opponent Howard Anmuth (3rd ward) and others: that the Board of Commissioners has already decided to implement a township-wide contract for both recycling and trash collection.

That simply is not true.  The Board of Commissioners has stated repeatedly that no decision has been made on which of several recycling plans will be adopted.  In fact, Mike Dougherty was present at the October 18 public meeting on recycling when the Board repeatedly stated that no decision on the recycling plan was imminent and more information gathering was needed.  Yet, in the November 4 Sunday Times, he wrote that “the idea that the current majority would force such a major change on the township [when 4 out of 7 seats are up for election] stinks.”

Mr. Dougherty knows, from attending the October 18 public meeting, that while a single township-wide combined trash and recycling contract is the cheapest option, there are concerns that such a contractor might provide poor service and be unresponsive to complaints.  And he knows that all four democratic Commissioners specifically acknowledged those types of concerns at that meeting.

In the Sunday Times, Dougherty also wrote that the a township-wide trash and recycling contract would hurt condominium owners because they would have to pay for such services even though they have an existing trash contract.  Yet at the October 18 meeting, Dougherty heard the Board specifically state that condominium owners would never have to pay for trash collection services they do not receive, and heard several condominium owners say to the Board, “Thank you. You have answered our questions.”

In the Sunday Times, Dougherty criticized the survey sent out to township residents as invalid because only 11% of the township residents responded, but in the next sentence, cited as authoritative the fact that 89% of survey responses said they were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their current trash hauler.  Well, Mr. Dougherty, if the entire survey is not valid, doesn’t that make the response to the one question you highlight invalid, too?

The fact is that the Board is considering all the information it has — the survey results, the e-mails and comments from our public meeting, the research collected by the recycling committee, and information collected about the recycling programs in other municipalities around the county — to develop the best possible recycling plan for Nether Providence.  As Board members, we cannot afford to pick and choose what information we decide to hear and what we can ignore.

Given the way Mike Dougherty is misquoting, mis-stating and ignoring facts, I wonder whether he can be trusted to make the right choice on recycling.

Frank Noyes
Commissioner, 3rd Ward

File this under non-partisan news, but there are two important events in the Township this week to put on our calendars.

On Thursday, Oct. 18th, there will be an open forum at the Board of Commissioners’ meeting. The topic of the conversation will be review and public comment on the report by the Recycling Task Force. The meeting will start at 7:00 PM at the Township building.

Then don’t forget that on Saturday, October 20th, Nether Providence will be holding its second annual 5K Run for our First Responders. After a great first year event, Nether Providence is once again hosting a 5K run starting and finishing at the Nether Providence Elementary School and Garden City Fire House in Wallingford PA. Net proceeds benefit the Township’s Community Enhancement Fund for the First Responders. Registration will open at 8:00 am. Race starts at 9:00. For more information and online registration, visit Run the Day.

Following a $7,500 grant from the Pennsylvania DEP, Nether Providence is evaluating our current municipal recycling program and patterns for solid waste hauling. The recycling task force participated in the initial study, and submitted their final report in December.

Among the findings:

The Township’s housing density, high number of single-family households, and wide streets are very favorable factors for efficient curbside collection of waste and recyclables.

…[The] Township Public Work Department provides a comprehensive leaf vacuum service and operates a successful compost site that is shared with Swarthmore Borough.

The Township has private subscription waste collection services. At least three different hauling companies provide waste collection service to residential households on different days.

Once-per-month recyclables collection is very inconvenient for residents. Once-per-month recyclables collection creates the following problems:

• Residents have to store bulky, sometimes odorous recyclables for an extended period of time. Due to the hassle, many residents will simply discard recyclables with trash. Approximately 20 percent of households set-out recyclables on collection days.
• Residents can often forget the recyclables collection day. Missing one collection requires a household to store recyclables for two months. The recyclables collection schedule complicates recyclables education and due to the inconvenience, actually trains residents that disposal (of recyclables) is much easier than recycling.
• The Township’s 20-gallon recycling containers do not have the capacity to collect/store recyclables generated in households for a period of one month.

The existing curbside recycling program does not include collection of colored glass, plastics, and paper, which are significant components of the residential waste stream.

An enhanced recycling program will require increased recyclables collection frequency at a minimum of once every two weeks. An enhanced recycling program could increase household participation from 20 percent to over 75 percent, thus dramatically increasing the amount of recyclables that will require collection and processing.

Several different options are discussed in the report, including an option to change to “single stream” curbside pickup, including recyclables.

As the next step in the process, the Board of Commissioners is planning to send out a spring survey to residents to solicit more input into the expectations and preferences of residents. The survey is expected to be available in paper and on the web, so be on the lookout and please participate when it arrives.