March 27, 2003 – If you've been hanging on to your recyclables in hopes that the Anti-litter and Beautification Commission's redemption program operated by Zan's Recycling will return, you may be in for a wait. Cordell Jacobs, ALBC program director, expects it to resume but just doesn't know when.
Meanwhile, he hopes people will continue to stockpile their recyclable aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, cardboard, newspapers and office paper.
"Ultimately, we're trying to keep it out of the dump," Jacobs said.
The program fell victim to its overwhelming success. With the commission paying for recycled items dropped off at various locations around St. Thomas and St. John, it went through the $400,000 it had expected to last a year in about five months.
"We didn't expect the kind of response we got. That's why we went through the money," Jacobs said.
When the commission asked that another $375,000 be transferred to the Zan's account, it learned that its contract with Zan's couldn't be amended. The contract had to go out to bid again.
Jacobs said the new bids are due April 14. However, he wouldn't even begin to speculate on when the program would get going again.
"The process for contracts is a lengthy one. It could be weeks or months," he said, citing the various departments that must sign off before the deal is finalized.
Jacobs said he did not know how many, if any, companies had bid or planned to bid on the contract.
However, Glenda Singh at Zan's Recycling said her company is bidding.
She said the company could restart the redemption program as soon as the contract process is finished. "The next day," she said.
People continue to drop off recyclables at the company's main location after it closes for the day, Singh said. However, until Zan's has a new contract, it won't be able to ship the recyclables off island, she said.
Singh also said people have told her that their recyclables are piling up at their homes.
While many of the people who recycle show up with relatively small quantities of cans, bottles and paper goods, some residents have turned redemption it into a business. Singh said she knows of one woman who goes through the trash receptacles at popular beaches to glean the recyclables.
The redemption program started up in September 2002. In November 2002, it was shut down for the first time, to allow the recycler, Zan's, to catch up. It resumed a few weeks later — until the money ran out in early February.
Newspapers, office paper, cardboard and glass are worth 5 cents a pound; plastic brings 25 cents a pound; and aluminum, 50 cents a pound. The money comes from a tax on aluminum cans and glass beverage bottles imported into the territory that has been in place for 11 years.
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