E-cycle Day gets green light

The town and village of Belgium’s annual E-cycle event will again be held this spring.

The town, which has taken the lead in holding the event at its transfer site at 1215 Jay Rd., will contract with Frankly Waste in Belgium. It’s the same vendor — but a new company — that did the event for free last year. This year’s event comes with a cost.

The Village Board approved paying $3,000 of the $6,000 event this month on a recommendation from the Public Works Committee. The town pays the other half.

The cost is three times what the village budgeted. The extra money will come from the village’s fund balance account, essentially a savings account used for emergencies and unexpected costs.

“Obviously, we’re going to be over budget. The other option is the village organizes it,” Village Clerk Julie Lesar told the Public Works Committee in February.

“I just don’t understand where all this stuff is coming from. This is like the seventh or eighth year in a row. Nobody could have that much stuff sitting around,” committee member Pete Anzia said.

Public Works Director Dan Birenbaum said he understands it, referencing the village’s dumpster behind the maintenance shop.

Town Chairman Tom Winker at last month’s board meeting said he understands the village’s issues with the price tag.

“It is quite a cost to do this. I hear their concerns,” he said.

One issue, Supr. Tom Bichler said, is quickly updating technology at reasonable costs.

“TVs change so much they replace them after three years,” he said. “Prices of TVs came down so much. You can buy a big-screen TV for $400.”

Winker said plenty of old ones come in.

“Every year we probably get five cabinet TVs. How old are those, 25, 30 years old?” he asked.

Winker said he knows items may not all come from town and village residents.

“People that come out there with a trailer with six or eight big-screen TVs. We know they’re not from one house,” he said.

Town resident Janice Poss encouraged the board to keep the event in its budget to help preserve the environment.

“A lot of those electronics have a lot of toxic chemicals in their screens,” she said, adding people may not know companies such as Apple and Best Buy also recycle electronics.

It’s not necessarily an issue of items being too expensive to recycle, Winker said. He and the two town supervisors pick up items out of the town ditches.

“I found about a 72-inch cardboard box of a new TV. Well, wait a minute, if you can afford a 72-inch TV, you can afford to recycle the cardboard,” he said.

“It’s so sad that people think they’re able to do that. What about keeping your little part of the world nicer?”

The event will be held Saturday, May 15.

Winker said he would like the board to consider holding the event every other year rather than annually.