Delaware Receives F in Air Quality
In unsurprising news, sadly, Delaware receives a grade of F from the American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2012 report card.Each county received an F for High Ozone Days and only New Castle County received an F for Particle Pollution while Kent and Sussex obtained A’s.Excuse me while I go cough up a lung.
Tags: Delaware, Environment
this sucks for such a small state. The marcus hook refinery no doubt contributes to our poor air quality, and unlike the GOP would like us to think, states rights doesn’t extend to pollution-flow.
Air quality sucks all along the I-95 corridor. And everyone slows down to spew particles in Delaware, ever since we took down the toll booths and decided to use I-95 for a local commuter road instead of an interstate.
Besides putting the toll booths back, there’s one other super-obvious thing the General Assembly could do to reduce air pollution: Authorize garbage collection districts in NCC. This would give groups like civic associations the ability to negotiate for exclusive garbage hauling contracts in their neighborhoods. Kent County already has this.
Currently, NCC households contract individually with hauling companies of their choosing. In my neighborhood, there are garbage trucks cruising the neighborhood six days per week, with at least four or five different companies sending their trash trucks twice per week (or more, with recycling runs added now).
And ironically when mandatory curbside recycling began, the hauling companies began sending their trucks on an extra recycling run, doubling the miles driven in our neighborhoods. And these are start-and-stop diesel miles, the worst kind for pollution.
Authorizing garbage collection districts would cut down dramatically on the garbage truck miles in NCC, reducing air pollution by a corresponding amount. Colin O’Mara should be all over this.
Not to mention the untimely wear and tear on the pavement.
And consumers would benefit too by negotiating for prices, which (if I recall correctly) is why the measure failed to pass in 1995, giving in to pressure from haulers to maintain the current fragmented system.
Install electric car charging stations… Lot of them. The whole place should go electric. Why let California have all the fun?
Solve the neighborhood schools problem and cut down on school bus miles.
Kent County has collection districts, and I was told last summer that its trash collection costs are lower than in New Castle or Sussex.
Suburban civic associations can’t impose their will on residents (though I suspect those newer “maintenance organizations” might be able to) but they can contact the haulers and negotiate reduced rates if significant percentages of residents sign on with the same hauler. Haulers are looking for efficiency in their operations too. Some of them have dual-compartment trucks, which can pick up both trash and recyclables at the same time.
Hauling rates have become more competitive since recycling started, so I’m not sure whether the haulers’ trucks are logging as many additional miles as Puck suggests. Some haulers moved from twice weekly trash pickups to once a week for trash and once for recyclables — keeping mileage about the same.
“Suburban civic associations can’t impose their will on residents”
Actually in Kent County they can – by levying a garbage fee from all residents; that’s how the district works. You don’t even need an organization, just a petition from 25 property owners in a defined neighborhood, and then a public meeting will be held to convince the County to establish the district.
The residents can still hire another hauler if they want, but there is little incentive when they are already paying for one.
(Hey! A garbage truck is pulling up right now in front of my neighbor’s house)
I’m up on this because I research haulers each December, get the best price/service, and pay for a year in advance. They all offer 2 days per week; if you choose 1 day it is only a few dollars cheaper, so most people choose 2 days, and the trucks are here 2 days no matter what.
When you pay a year up front they give you 10% off, and then when I choose 1 day instead of 2 I get the whole year for around $270 – not bad. With recycling, I only need one garbage day.
I know double-compartment trucks exist but I think only one company uses one by me; I rarely see them. They mostly just schedule a recycling run on a non-garbage day.
Seems fitting to have failing air quality to go along with failing politicians..
This is a must see. Simple facts presented simply. Devastating and hard to refute conclusions.
“There’s No Tomorrow”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOMWzjrRiBg