Trash Man Didn't Get the Trash Today: The real world impact of municipal budget cuts isn't always immediately apparent. But one of last fall's decisions may lead to obviously visible—and smellable—results. The D.C. Department of Public Works, facing a $3.9 million cut to its budget last year, decided to stop ordering trash cans and recycling containers. Which means there's a significant backlog for getting new ones out to new residents or replacements to people whose cans get stolen. Time to start composting! -2

Fake Pot, Real Cops: Federal authorities banned fake pot—known as K2 or Spice—earlier this month. A few weeks later, D.C. authorities are finally getting around to seeing if they can make a bust under the new regulations. Cops visited stores where they'd previously purchased the synthetic weed and threatened consequences if the stuff is still for sale. (It might go on your permanent record!) The whole exercise seems ridiculous; after all, the only reason there's any market for fake pot in the first place is because of the inane criminalization of real marijuana. -2

Constitution Avenue Reconstituted: Between the cherry blossoms and the rolling waves of spring breakers and their families heading to town, venturing anywhere near downtown during the spring usually means battling hordes of tourists, both on the sidewalks, in the Metro, and on the roads. Add to the usual seasonal chaos some serious road work. The National Park Service, which for some reason owns the length of Constitution Avenue, will tear up and replace the stretch between 15th Street NW and 23rd Street NW, one block at a time. The concrete under the road, which dates to the 1950s, will all be replaced with new slabs. It'll cost $10.3 million and should be done sometime in "early 2012." Don't hold your breath. -3

Snow? Really?: Just because we've sprung the clocks forward and it's officially spring doesn't mean you get to put the snow shovels away yet—weather forecasters say there's a chance of flurries or snow showers later this week. The good news: It wouldn't actually pile up anywhere. The bad news: If it's snowing, it won't be 60 degrees. -1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 67 Today's score: -8 Today's Needle rating: 59

The department had offered weekly disposal service at its Fort Totten Transfer Station, but will instead accept and process such materials once a month, every first Saturday, starting this week.

The weekly service at Fort Totten was implemented to replace the semi-annual household hazardous waste and e-cycling events at Carter Barron Amphitheatre. The District was the first jurisdiction in the region to offer weekly document shredding for residents.

So, if you have an old television set, a substance that can "[d]estroy living tissue on contact," or other object or material that should be disposed of properly (complete list here), be sure to mark off the first Saturday of the month. Also, if you have a substance that can destroy living tissue on contact, you may have some other logistical problems to worry about.

The Fort Totten Transfer Station also gets high marks on Yelp—4.5 stars to be exact: "The folks here are always there to greet you with a smile—and they truly have one of the worst jobs—for what most people would prefer to do. Easy to navigate—nice people—convenient hours. Excellent customer service!!!!"

Well, not as convenient as it once was. Still, better than the Department of Motor Vehicles inspection station! From Yelp: "[R]est assured that any trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles is likely to end with you feeling more violated than your average Abu Ghraib torture victim." Ouch.

Kerplunk, went the latest report
Jaw-dropping was Barry's retort
Said Bennett transgressed
And once or twice stressed
Ward 8 as a lame last resort

You know what is totally splendid?
Those days without letters have ended
But junk mail you've gotten
Goes straight to Fort Totten
Recyc'ling this week? Still suspended

The meanest of cold-hearted schlubs
Will melt at the zoo's brand new cubs
If making the trek
Say hi to Glenn Beck
And all of the CPAC Repubs

(Darrow Montgomery)

Awhile ago, we brought you a story about recycling that routinely gets tossed out with the trash. Well, as you can imagine, we thought this was pretty surprising news: that loads of plastics, paper, bottles and cans dutifully dumped into recycling bins around the city were still ending up at the landfill. The culprits? Some private haulers, who apparently f0und it too expensive and too much of a hassle to take the goods to out-of-town recycling centers.

After the story ran last November, we asked Department of Public Works officials if they planned to do anything about the problem. This week DPW got back to us, which is convenient since DPW recycling chief Bill Easley and I are all going to be on the Kojo Nnamdi Show this afternoon talking about the city's recycling travails.

But, for starters, here's DPW's response to our follow up questions:

"In response to your follow-up question, DPW is working to step up its enforcement efforts by expanding the numbers of personnel who will be inspecting for commercial recycling violations. We plan to augment the number of inspectors by training some of the inspectors with our Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program (SWEEP) on what to look for. I don't have an exact number of how many additional inspectors will be added but we currently have only three recycling inspectors compared to 35-40 SWEEP inspectors.

"We'll start looking at some of the smaller haulers to see what their ratio of trash to recycling vehicles are.

"Finally, DPW is seeking legislation to increase the amount of fines for violators. We feel like this will make businesses more likely to stay in compliance. We expect Council to hold a hearing on this sometime in the Spring."

Later, Nancee Lyons sent another email saying the following:

"I'd like to expand on what I sent earlier with regard to increasing our commercial recycling fines:

"The Department is working on revisions to the recycling regulations that include increased fines for many initial offenses and that establish graduated increased penalties for repeat offenses.  We expect to move forward with the regulations soon."

I'd still like to know if DPW is investigating the five companies we caught trashing recyclables and whether the planned new legislation will go far enough to close loopholes in the law. I've already sent in my follow up to the department's follow up.  Maybe we'll get some answers this afternoon on the radio! (ADVERTISEMENT: tune in at 1:15 p.m.)

Washington City Paper has been slapped with a $50 fine from the D.C. Department of Public Works for "failure to separate recycling from other solid waste" at 2390 Champlain St. NW, the address of the paper's newsroom.

Normally, City Paper wouldn't report on this as news. Except there are several curious things about the citation (view a PDF of it here). First, the timing: City Paper recently ran a cover story by Christine MacDonald about how D.C.'s private trash haulers often commingle recycling with solid waste during their pickups and how the city has been lax in cracking down on them. The story hit the streets Nov. 5 12. The date of violation on the citation is Nov. 16.

Second: While the "respondent" on the citation is Washington City Paper and the citation was sent (via certified mail) to City Paper's office, City Paper doesn't own the Champlain Street building and the Dumpster in question is not registered to the newspaper, according to Amy Austin, the publisher. She says it's registered to Stout and Teague, which manages the building for its owner, Chicago-based Glancer Properties LLC (City Paper used to be owned by the building's owner when it was Chicago Reader Inc.). The Champlain Street building has multiple tenants, including WPFW radio, a software development company, and a bike shop.

"We're just tenants," says Austin. "We haven't owned the building for over two years. Why not say it's WPFW's trash?"

"We're not paying the citation," she says.

There's no question there was trash in the recycling-only Dumpster used by the tenants of 2390 Champlain; the citation, written by agent K. Jones, helpfully included a picture of a white plastic trash bag sticking out the top. The question is: Why now, and why send it to us?

City Paper has a call in to Linda Grant, DPW spokesperson.

One of my household duties is to handle all recycling and trash. Monday night I fell down on the job, failing to haul both the trash and recycling containers out to the curb.

Next morning, really early, the recycling truck roars up the street. I am nowhere to be found. Another individual hears the truck coming and begins struggling to drag the container off the front patio.

Recycling crew member sees the struggle, hops off the truck, bounds into the patio area, and grabs the container—essentially doing my job and his.

We all like to hammer our city agencies when they screw up. We send in complaining e-mails, hammer city workers on blogs, gripe to our councilmembers. All of which makes it critical that we likewise get tough on ourselves when we fail to fulfill the urban compact.

I assure you, Department of Public Works (DPW), that this'll never happen again. You folks have too much worthwhile work to do to pick up after me.

Photo courtesy of eurleif.

Did you know that much of the city’s trash is trucked to Fairfax County, where it is incinerated and turned into electricity? According to the Department of Public Works and the “waste-to-energy” industry, it's a "win-win" scenario; the trash disappears and the country reduces its dependence on foreign oil. What could be more patriotic, especially since officials say filters on the smokestacks keep nasty pollutants from escaping into the air around the Lorton plant.

Well, in a report released today, environmentalists take aim at those claims. Clean Water Action, the Toxics Action Center and six other groups from around the country are seeking to debunk the growing buzz around waste-to-energy plants as sources of clean “alternative” fuel. Their conclusion: an incinerator is an incinerator is an incinerator. 

"The core impacts of all types of incinerators remain the same: They are toxic to public health, harmful to the economy, environment and climate, and undermine recycling and waste reduction programs,” according to the report, “An Industry Blowing Smoke."

Unless you're a jerk, the yearly arrival of the giant pain in your ass known as the D.C. Superpages is not as welcome as, say, the SI Swimsuit Issue. Fear not, City Deskers! I have the answers!

To get off the delivery list, call 1-800-888-8448. Pick option No. 2. Wait for someone to answer. Tell her it's 2008 now and you use the tubes if you need a number. Voila! NOW: They're coming this week, so you better hurry up if it's not already too late. If it is and you need to purge last year's and this year's, the Mayor's Call Center promises the city will recycle the monstrosities if you throw them in with regular recycling.

Go forth and save the earth.

Photo by Rich Anderson