[Amended 5-19-2008 by Ord. No. 708-08; 9-7-2010 by Ord. No. 733-10]
A. 
In 1992 the Town developed and legislated a plan for the purpose of complying with the spirit and intent of the Maryland Recycling Act to protect our environment, to conserve and preserve our natural resources and to save energy within the Town of Bel Air. The Town's plan is incorporated as Appendix D in the current Harford County, Maryland, Solid Waste Management Plan 2005-2014 pursuant to § 9-504 of the Environment Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, saving and excepting such portions as are deleted, modified or amended by this article, and the same is hereby adopted and made part of this article with the same force and effect as though set out in full herein.
B. 
The plan features a voluntary program primarily designed for all residential properties and incorporates curbside collection of glass, metal and plastic containers, paper products, white goods, and yard waste. The recycling of used motor oil, antifreeze, and batteries is also addressed herein. Furthermore, the plan addresses the collection of recyclable materials from the governmental institutions of the Town of Bel Air. The Town of Bel Air has for many years provided solid waste collection services to its residences and the Town's institutions. The collection of recyclable materials from these entities is, therefore, a logical extension of the existing program.
C. 
The plan also provides for the collection of recyclable materials from institutional, apartment, condominium and some small commercial establishments. Most commercial waste within the Town of Bel Air has traditionally been collected by independent private haulers. These haulers are subject to the same recycling requirements as those imposed by Harford County on the other haulers active throughout the county. All private haulers are required to offer recycling options to their clients. Larger commercial businesses often choose to recycle directly to the markets.
D. 
Beginning in September 2010 the Town will adopt a "single stream" recycling plan in conjunction with Harford County. Under this new program both fiberous (paper) and nonfiberous (glass, plastic, metal) recyclables can be combined in a designated container for pickup and no longer need to be separated. Further information on the Town's refuse collection program and schedule can be found at http://www.belairmd.org/departments/publicworks/recyclingrefuse.asp.
A. 
Collection of recyclables is an integral component of the overall Town-wide refuse collection operation. Household refuse will be collected on Monday and Tuesday of each week and recyclables on Thursday and Friday. If the scheduled household collection day falls on a Monday holiday, refuse will be collected on Tuesday and Wednesday. If the recyclable collection day falls on a holiday, recyclable collection is extended to Saturday. The Department of Public Works will publish and distribute a collection flyer highlighting the holiday pickup schedule along with a calendar annually for the upcoming year. Eligible properties are those that abut a public right-of-way, have curbside access and comply with criteria in Article III of this chapter.
B. 
The following items shall be collected as part of the recycling program:
(1) 
Single stream curbside collection of bimetal, steel, aluminum, glass and plastic containers, as well as all paper products to include corrugated cardboard and newspapers from residential properties and Town facilities (see Subsection C below).
(2) 
Curbside collection of grass clippings, leaves, brush and loose limbs from all residential properties receiving trash collection services from the Town of Bel Air.
(3) 
Curbside collection of recyclable white goods from all residential properties receiving trash collection services from the Town of Bel Air.
(4) 
Apartments, condominiums and townhomes having convenient access to public curbs are provided with co-mingled and white goods recycling pickup by the Town.
(5) 
Private haulers offer apartment, condominium and apartment complexes co-mingled recycling pickup service.
(6) 
Used oil, antifreeze and batteries at a state- and county-sponsored and -maintained facility located at the entrance of the Bel Air Public Works Facility at 705 East Churchville Road. This dropoff point is accessible to the public 24 hours a day.
C. 
Recyclables shall be placed at curbside by eligible residential property owners. Town Public Works refuse employees will collect recyclables in accordance with the published annual schedule. Types of recyclables and method of collection are as follows:
(1) 
Co-mingled recyclables.
(a) 
Allowed: All food and beverage jars and bottles of all colors. Plastic containers with No. 1 through No. 7 inside the triangle on or near the bottom, such as soda and detergent bottles and milk jugs, wide-mouth tubs and trays. Rigid plastics which include milk/soda crates, plastic buckets, plastic laundry baskets, plastic lawn furniture, plastic totes/drums/coolers, plastic flower pots, plastic drinking cups, plastic toys. Metal cans (aluminum and tin/steel); this includes all beverage and food cans and clean aluminum foil and pie plates/pans.
(b) 
Not allowed: Caps or bottle tops, window glass, drinking glasses, dishes or ceramics, light bulbs, or mirrors. Styrofoam, plastic cutlery, construction/demolition materials, colored plastic film, plastic grocery bags. Aluminum/vinyl siding, aluminum window frames, or scrap metal of any type.
(c) 
Rinse glass, plastic, and metal and place together with paper recyclables in a clearly marked recycling container or trash can.
(2) 
Paper recyclables.
(a) 
Allowed: newspapers and inserts, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, books, brown paper bags, cleaned/rinsed gable-top milk and juice cartons, paperboard boxes (examples: cereal and shirt boxes), telephone books, nonmetallic gift wrap, shredded paper (bagged and sealed) and flattened corrugated cardboard.
(b) 
Not allowed: food-contaminated, waxed, laminated or carbon paper, used paper towels and tissues, metallic wrapping paper, loose shredded paper.
(c) 
Place all paper items together with co-mingled recyclables in a clearly marked recycling container or trash can. Flattened corrugated cardboard can be set beside the recycling container.
(3) 
Following the recycling schedule, place recycling container at curb no earlier than 6:00 p.m. on the evening before your recycling day.
D. 
Yard waste consisting of grass clippings, leaves and brush will be picked up according to the published schedule. Request for pickup of loose limbs and brush must be phoned in at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled pickup day [limbs are chipped by the Town's refuse collection personnel and transported to the Harford Waste Disposal Center (HWDC)]. Bagged leaves and grass clippings will be picked up (no call necessary) on Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays in areas according to the published schedule. Any bagged leaves and/or grass clippings not picked up on the scheduled day will be picked up on the day of the following week. No yard waste collection service will be provided on holidays. Grass clippings and leaves must be placed in plastic bags, except that loose leaves will be collected according to the published schedule each fall from October 1 through December 31 and in the spring during the first two full weeks in April.
E. 
Collection of recyclable white goods will be made upon request.
All recyclable items collected in the Town of Bel Air are processed by the Harford Waste Disposal Center's Office of Recycling. All curbside recyclables, white goods and yard waste are processed or transferred at the HWDC facility located at 3241 Scarboro Road, Street, Maryland. Used motor oil/antifreeze dropoff locations are maintained by Harford County and those recycled products are collected and processed by Maryland Environmental Services (MES). Further information about the county's waste collection and recycling program and services can be found on the environmental affairs web page at http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/dpw/envaffairs.