MontNews.com

NORRISTOWN – County employees looking to recycle the soda can they just emptied or the cardboard box that a delivery just came in will no longer have to go looking for a way to do it starting next week.

Employees who work in the Court House, One Montgomery Plaza and the Human Services center will begin using a single desk-side container for all recycling beginning December 1, 2009.

Through a contract with Waste Management, Montgomery County buildings will now be offered a ‘Single Stream’ recycling collection method.

This method will allow the employee to throw aluminum and tin cans, plastic narrow necked bottles #1-7, glass food and beverage containers, newsprint, paperboard, office paper, junk mail and cardboard all in the same bin.

Single Stream recycling will help the County workforce recycle more which in turn will have a positive effect on the environment and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

“We want to have 100 percent participation,” Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman Jim Matthews said.

“In these economic times, we’re struggling to keep our costs flat and recycling is one of the easiest things employees can do,” Matthews said. “Recycling means less waste, lower tipping fees and, hopefully, a small return on the materials.”

Society as a whole benefits as well, said Chris Kaasmann, Montgomery County’s Recycling Coordinator.

“The energy it takes for 1 aluminum soda can to be recycled is approximately 95% less than what it would take to make a can from virgin materials,” Kaasmann said.

Employees are being asked to sign a pledge to reuse and recycle as much as they can at all times in the work place.

“By signing the pledge each employee becomes accountable for the waste they produce. Hopefully, this will make them think twice about where that water bottle or piece of paper goes after it leaves their hand,” Kaasmann said.

A new educational recycling campaign is underway. It includes new stickers on all bins, educational posters and a team of County employees dubbed ‘Recycling Liaisons.’

These liaisons will work with all County employees and encourage them to do the right thing by recycling correctly.

Those visiting County buildings such as the Courthouse will also be able to take advantage of the ‘Single Stream’ recycling method. Bins located in break rooms, common areas and kitchens will contain recycling bins for the public. Bins in these areas were provided by a grant through the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania (PROP) and ALCOA Aluminum. For more information on this program and other recycling inquiries, please contact the Montgomery County Recycling Hotline at (610) 278-3618.

SUBJECT: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

In 2007, the Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA). This law mandates that, as part of the Nation’s efforts to achieve energy independence, the Secretary of Transportation prescribe annual fuel economy increases for automobiles, beginning with model year 2011, resulting in a combined fuel economy fleet average of at least 35 miles per gallon by model year 2020. On May 2, 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking entitled Average Fuel Economy Standards, Passenger Cars and Light Trucks; Model Years 2011-2015, 73 Fed. Reg. 24352. In the notice and comment period, the NHTSA received numerous comments, some of them contending that certain aspects of the proposed rule, including appendices providing for preemption of State laws, were inconsistent with provisions of EISA and the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007).

Federal law requires that the final rule regarding fuel economy standards be adopted at least 18 months before the beginning of the model year (49 U.S.C. 32902(g)(2)). In order for the model year 2011 standards to meet this requirement, the NHTSA must publish the final rule in the Federal Register by March 30, 2009. To date, the NHTSA has not published a final rule.

Therefore, I request that:

(a) in order to comply with the EISA requirement that fuel economy increases begin with model year 2011, you take all measures consistent with law, and in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency, to publish in the Federal Register by March 30, 2009, a final rule prescribing increased fuel economy for model year 2011;

(b) before promulgating a final rule concerning model years after model year 2011, you consider the appropriate legal factors under the EISA, the comments filed in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the relevant technological and scientific considerations, and to the extent feasible, the forthcoming report by the National Academy of Sciences mandated under section 107 of EISA; and

(c) in adopting the final rules in paragraphs (a) and (b) above, you consider whether any provisions regarding preemption are consistent with the EISA, the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA and other relevant provisions of law and the policies underlying them.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

The Secretary of Transportation is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE, January 26, 2009