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NEWS RELEASE

August 28, 2007

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Ulman Delivers First Ever Wheeled Recycling Carts to Pilot Neighborhood

ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Ken Ulman today joined the Bureau of Environmental Services in “rolling out” the county’s first ever wheeled recycling “carts” to neighbors along Bonnie Acres Drive in Ellicott City. The carts are part of a pilot program to test the new collection method and see if the larger, rolling and covered carts will make it easier and more convenient for homeowners to recycle.

"I have heard from many residents that full recycling bins are often too heavy to move to the curb, especially for our senior citizens. On windy days open recycling bins allow collected materials to be released throughout our neighborhoods. These new recycling carts solve both those problems,” said Ulman.

About 5,000 homes were chosen to participate in the pilot--3,885 single-family homes will receive the 64-gallon carts, 146 town homes with garages will receive the 35-gallon carts and 966 town homes will receive the 18-gallon traditional bins. The total cost of the pilot is expected to come to $225,000 for the carts, distribution services and all printed material. All of these homes received information on this pilot program earlier this month.

The area chosen for the pilot is Trash and Recycling Zone-11 (TRZ) located along Route 108 to the south, Route 103 to the west, Route 1 to the east and the Patapsco State Park to the north. TRZ-11 was chosen for two reasons: the collection truck for this area includes a tipper mount on the back for cart emptying since the bigger carts are too heavy for manual unloading. Second, the Recycling Division has been tracking participation and setout rates for this area for almost two years, so any changes in recycling efforts will be easier to measure. It is anticipated that recycling tonnage for the zone will increase by at least 20% because the carts will make recycling much easier and more convenient for residents.