Cumberland County is far from the only region in the state where waste issues are on the rise. In a recently completed 2018-2019 waste survey (Pennsylvania Department of Waste Survey), the State Environmental Protection Agency, PennDOT and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful reported approximately 502 million garbage on the roads of Pennsylvania. I found it found. An average of 1,030 garbage per mile.

In this survey, we asked residents who said that waste devalues ​​assets, hurts tourism and business, increases wastewater treatment taxes, is an environmental problem, and that some waste drains into waterways. About half of the respondents said they didn’t care or threw out the trash because they couldn’t find a trash can in a convenient location.

Since this research, cleansing programs have started to look more like expensive bandages than solutions.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful estimates that between 2014 and 2018, PennDOT spent more than $ 65 million to clear debris from the freeway right-of-way. In a 2019 survey, nine cities across the state spend $ 68 million per year on cleanup, education, enforcement and prevention efforts to tackle waste and illegal dumping, 80% of which is spent on cleaning. Says the organization.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful still has cleanup initiatives and programs that connect volunteers and groups with supplies to offset municipal cleanup costs, but other initiatives are seen as a better way to tackle the waste problem. ..

“DEP, PennDOT and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful are coordinating initiatives to develop a waste prevention plan in Pennsylvania,” said Deb Klenotic, deputy director of communications at DEP. “In short, this is an effort to shift our approach to waste from cleaning to primarily waste prevention. Due to the heap of garbage, state agencies and municipalities cannot meet the cost of cleaning. . “

The waste prevention initiative has four working groups. The group is education and awareness, infrastructure, regulation and enforcement, and partnerships.

After a delay related to the pandemic, a task force made up of local governments, communities and business leaders from across the state began working last month.

“Over the remainder of the spring and summer, they will be reviewing the results and recommendations of two Pennsylvania-specific research studies commissioned by DEP, PennDOT and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful in 2019,” she said. “By the end of the summer, they will be planning a recommended strategy for Pennsylvania, and DEP, PennDOT and KPB will review final decisions by the end of this year.”

Meanwhile, Governor Tom Wolf is calling on residents to help reduce waste by participating in a statewide “Pennsylvania Pickup” campaign to clean up the area this spring.

“DEP, PennsDOT and KPB have worked together for almost 20 years to support volunteer cleanup events in these areas,” Klenotic said. “Thousands of Pennsylvanians attended.”

But was it really useful and is there anything else to learn from other states about solutions to the garbage problem?

Like Pennsylvania, Oregon used to dump trash, but in 1971 the state decided to tackle trash by enacting a “Bottle Bill”.

Oregon’s bottle bill, similar to that passed in nine other states, was initially seen primarily as a small control measure. At that time, about 40% of the state’s waste was bottles and cans. Eight years later, that type of waste has been reduced to just 6%, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

The Oregon Bottle Bill is the first container deposit law in the United States. A ten cent container deposit is required to purchase all beverage containers of 3 liters or less, except distilled alcoholic beverages, wine, dairy or plant-based milk and infant formula .

Consumers can return empty containers at stores and clearinghouses and receive a ten-cent refund for each container returned.

Refunds are a boon for cash-strapped consumers and can be a dip for charities when consumers donate recyclable items for their own purposes.

The Brightside Animal Center and Thrift Store in Redmond, Oregon have a community of about 30,000 people and report significant financial benefits from this system.

“Our excellent volunteers sort cans and bottles from eight donation sites around Redmond,” said Patricia Bowling, director of accounting for the center. The income of approximately $ 100,000, after deducting expenses, was approximately $ 75,000. “

Locally, the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter is making a slightly similar effort, including cans, to raise additional funds.

“Currently, the shelter has an aluminum can drop-off area where people deliver empty cans and then bring them in for recycling here in Franklin County,” said Jenvande, director of communications for the shelter. Lau said. “It’s a really nice little fundraising activity for us so we can clearly see that the Bottle and Can Act is a real benefit for nonprofits and can be environmentally friendly. “

Most of these laws in Pennsylvania were not groundbreaking, although Oregon would have been successful in pushing the bill through.

In the past two decades, there have been two legislative efforts to introduce container drop laws in the state.

Senate Bill 855 of 2009 introduced something similar to the Oregon system, similar to Bill 1322 of October 2019, but both efforts failed on the Commission.