Beacon Trivia: Did You Hear That Siren Too? Totally Normal... Here's What It Is (hint: it's a normal fire alarm from across the river)

PUBLISHED: Sunday, March 22, 2020

Living in Beacon means you get used to certain sounds. Like you would get used to sounds anywhere you live. In Beacon, that means sounds from the train whooshing by on the tracks, and its long whistle blow. It also means, for some people, the evening patio crowd enjoying themselves to music on the waterfront over in Newburgh, across the Hudson River. Depending on where you live, and on weather, sounds carry, especially from the river.

If you have lived in Beacon for a while, but you commute to New York City or elsewhere, you may not be here during the day. Or, you may be here all day every day, but work from inside your home or your office, and you normally don’t go outside as much as you’ve been going outside lately.

So you may be hearing new sounds. One of those sounds is a long siren that sounds like those long sirens in the movies during war time when something is signaled. If you hear this siren for the first time, and if it is during a moment where, let’s say, there is a lot of news coming out about a lot of different coronavirus-related things at once, for instance:

  • California announces for the first time that their residents must shelter in place last Thursday night.

  • Italy has its worst day in deaths (there have been new worse days since)

  • All non-essential business in New York must temporarily close.

…the siren sound might sound a lot different during that part of the morning when you hear it. It might sound like an actual siren from the movies, announcing that you need to act quickly to do … something.

Good News: It’s An Old-Fashioned Fire Alarm!

Good news: It’s a totally normal siren! It is the fire alarm siren from the Middle Hope Fire Department across the river. Says Beacon’s Fire Chief Gary VanVoorhis: “During a particularly humid day, as we had on Friday, sound travels across the water of the Hudson River more.”

The fire chief says that Beacon does not have an old-fashioned siren like that because the city uses modern technological methods to mobilize their volunteer and professional firefighters. For those who like adding to their Beacon Trivia, there is another siren that is used by a private dam, says Beacon’s City Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero.

PS: Auto Accidents “Drastically Down” In Beacon At Moment

By the way, the fire chief added that there has been a drop in auto accidents, since people are staying home. “Auto accidents are drastically down,” he told A Little Beacon Blog last week. Calls for an ambulance are also down. People who are feeling coronavirus symptoms are strongly encouraged to call their health care professional or urgent care first before coming in. This is to protect the workers and other patients in these medical centers.

The City of Beacon has been so responsive to all of our questions here at A Little Beacon Blog as we pursue articles, even while we know that all government officials are in meetings constantly regarding local responses to managing coronavirus. As we work on different articles here, we reach out to verify procedures and ask how things work. We appreciate their responses so much. Very comforting.

Fire On Breakneck Ridge - Cars and Brush Fire - 9D Closed Between Beacon and Cold Spring

UPDATE 3/10/2020: Route 9D is open; the fire has been contained but may still be burning.

The text came in from a train commuter at 8:29 pm: “The fires by Cold Spring were crazy today. There were at least 9 cars totally burned up.” This blogger had just left the City Council Workshop meeting in order to switch gears into another work assignment, and then drove to a high point in Beacon in order to see the orange glow at Breakneck still blazing at 9:30 pm. The Highlands Current reported that Route 9D had closed between Beacon and Cold Spring.

The Fishkill Police Department confirmed that the cars were destroyed, as first reported by WRRV and the department’s own Facebook page. We do know some information from other reports coming online this evening: The Dutchess Junction Fire Department was dispatched to a brush fire at 8 Hartsook Lane, according to an article at Mid Hudson News. The Rombout and Glenham Fire Departments were called to assist in fighting that fire. Fire departments from Eastern Orange County were called out to help battle the Breakneck Ridge brush fire, according to the article. The Fishkill Police Department was one of several agencies to respond and make updates. The Fishkill Police department reported that all hikers came down safely from the mountain.

The City of Beacon’s Fire Department was not called to assist in these fires, as they were fighting two other small fires near the train tracks in Beacon at the same time, according to Beacon’s Fire Chief, Gary Van Voorhis. We may have more information about those fires on Tuesday, so refresh this article if you’re looking for updates.

According to the Mid Hudson News article, several other brush fires have ignited during the day. This could be for a range of reasons, but know this: A burn ban is going into effect for the State of New York, which prohibits some open burning of trash, painted wood, leaves, and other items. Read all about it here.

Only 529 Tickets Available For Clearwater's The Great Hudson River Revival 2020 After Required Downsizing

Clearwater’s The Great Hudson River Revival will be produced on a much smaller, intimate scale as compared to years past, with tickets for 529 attendees only. Normally a million-dollar event, last year’s festival suffered a financial loss of $190K due to a rainy forecast, according to the organizers. The organization has been working its way out of that loss since June 2019.

For many years, The Great Hudson River Revival was Clearwater’s most important annual fundraiser. It has since grown into the country's oldest music and environmental festival, uniquely spreading environmental awareness, education and activism. With no corporate sponsorship, this loss made a big impact on the organization.

“The Great Hudson River Revival was a major success last year, in the sense that thousands of people joined us to celebrate the Hudson River through music, dance, volunteerism, education and activism,” said Clearwater Executive Director Greg Williams in a press release. “Due to many factors, including a wet weather forecast and rain on Sunday causing low attendance, the festival suffered a financial loss of approximately $190K. Since June, we have been working to keep the organization stable, while paying down our debt to festival vendors, and we are grateful for their patience. It would be irresponsible of Clearwater to move forward with replicating another million-dollar Clearwater Festival in 2020 without having addressed the financial loss we incurred in 2019. We expect that these steps, with the public’s ongoing support, will put us in the best position to return with Revival in 2021."

Williams continued in the press release: "We hope that our transparency will give the public some confidence that we keep our mission close at heart; to continue the work that we do year-round on the Hudson, educating and inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders.”

The Community Celebration for June 2020 will be a unique and intimate event for 529 attendees. Attendance will be very limited due to venue space capacity, but will provide a familiar welcoming weekend of unity, action, education, food, music, crafts, and merrymaking.

Details about the 2020 Great Hudson River Revival will be announced soon. Clearwater expects to return to a full-scale event in 2021, re-envisioned as a sustainable, less-commercial event, according to the press release.

For 2020, a Clearwater Community Celebration will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 20 and 21, on the festival’s traditional Father’s Day Weekend on a smaller portion of Croton Point Park, in Croton-on-Hudson, NY.

Other Ways To Donate In The Meantime

To contribute to Clearwater’s ability to continue to hold festivals, and/or other programming, you can ​click here​. You can choose whether to have your donation committed to a specific program, or to be used where it is most needed.

You can ​sail on ​Clearwater ​​this sailing season, ​volunteer on the sloop​, help
out with ​winter maintenance​, attend one of their ​events​ this year, or make a donation.​

Where Does Beacon's Recycling and Trash Go? Royal Carting Answers The Question

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Like a Billie Eilish song asking where do we go when we sleep, you might be wondering: “Where does my trash and recycling go when I throw it away?” The trash used to go to the city dump (now called the transfer stationwe took a field trip there and wrote about it). Some things go to the transfer station, like trash you yourself are hauling (rubble from your garage, couches, TVs, etc.) when you can’t dump them on an Electronics Recycling Day or some such.

Where does the rubble from the cans go once it is collected by the trash trucks? A Little Beacon Blog reached out to Royal Carting by way of their attorney, Jim Constantino (who frequents City Council meetings when negotiating the yearly contract renewal or answering recycling or solid waste questions), to answer this question, in what became a few questions:

ALBB: Where is the recycling dumped for Beacon?

Republic (Re Community), 508 Fishkill Avenue, Beacon, N.Y.”

ALBB: Where is the trash dumped for Beacon?

“Royal utilizes the Dutchess County Waste-to-Energy Plant (read a brief history here), Sand Dock Road, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The waste disposed of at the plant (which is Federal Clean Air Act-compliant) is used as fuel to produce steam that is sold to Central Hudson to generate electricity. The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has qualified the ash byproduct with a ‘Beneficial Use Designation’ as alternative operating cover.”

ALBB: Is an incinerator used for Beacon's trash at all, and if so, where is that located?

“See above. Royal utilizes the Dutchess County Waste-To-Energy Plant. Solid waste delivered to the plant is used as fuel.”

ALBB: Do the trucks look the same as they do as when they are picking up regular trash?

“The trucks are the same design and color - green Mack rear load-compaction vehicles. Truck No. 199 collects the recycling. Truck No. 247 collects the solid waste.”

Read more about how recycling works in Beacon and why it is crucial to rinse your plastics, not put soggy paper into the cans, and make sure you know some of the other things you can’t put into the recycling can.

Did You See That Funeral With The Black Coffin With Bagpipes In Beacon?

Marchers in the funeral procession for the billion animals killed in Australian fires, as well as all of the species being lost to climate change. Photo Credit: Gilles Uzan

Marchers in the funeral procession for the billion animals killed in Australian fires, as well as all of the species being lost to climate change.
Photo Credit: Gilles Uzan

As you were strolling along in Beacon down Main Street, you may have heard bagpipes in the distance. And as the sound got closer to you, passing you, you may have noticed people dressed in black carrying a small black coffin surrounded by signs with a particular symbol on them (two triangles or an hourglass in a circle). What was it?

Photo Credit: Extinction Rebellion New Paltz

Photo Credit: Extinction Rebellion New Paltz

It was a funeral procession in Beacon for the billion animals killed in Australian fires - as well as all of the species being lost to climate change, according to the press release from the organizers, Extinction Rebellion Hudson Highlands. “Extinction Rebellion (held on Sunday, January 26, 2020) is an international movement engaged in nonviolent direct action to force governments to respond to climate and ecological breakdown,” according to the press release.

“We are watching the world that we love unravel before our eyes because of climate change,” says Krystal Ford, a representative of Extinction Rebellion Hudson Highlands. “Last year alone, several species of birds, frogs, a shark, a snail, and one of the world’s largest freshwater fish were among those declared extinct.”

The funeral met on the sidewalk in front of the Beacon Post Office and marched to Polhill Park on Route 9D for a brief ritual. Marchers were dressed to honor the dead. Adults and children brought wreaths, flowers, pictures of environmental campaigners, and of extinct or endangered species that were placed upon a coffin. Bagpipes were played by James Hartford, from River Architects.

Photo Credit: Gilles Uzan

When emailed for further comment, Krystal elaborated on the mission of the march:

 

“We have been losing species at unprecedented rate. We have entered the sixth mass extinction. The images many of us have seen of the koalas and kangaroos being rescued from burning forests are only the most recent and heartbreaking example of species being lost to the climate and ecological crisis. 1 billion animals in Australia have been lost due to the wildfires alone. If our world is dying without our publicly and collectively expressing our grief, we might assume these losses aren't important, but of course they are. Yesterday, over 60 people came together in Beacon to publicly honor their pain for the world, showing that we care. Once we allow this pain to register, instead of turning away or being numb to it, we may find ourselves released from our paralysis, and demand action from our government to act on this climate and ecological emergency.”

 

According to Wikipedia, “the extinction symbol represents the threat of holocene extinction (or sixth mass extinction) on earth; the circle represents the planet and the stylised hourglass is a warning that time is running out for many species. The symbol has been attributed to anonymous East London artist, ESP or Goldfrog ESP.

The Recycling Market That Crashed - How The Crash Impacted Beacon

Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

EDITOR'S NOTE, BEFORE YOU READ:
This article was written in 2018 and never published; we missed the window of timeliness. Now, with the Plastic Bag Ban, we are publishing it. It helps serve as a background to any changes in recycling, trash collection, and any new environmental regulation.

During a City Council Workshop meeting on May 29, 2018, at which the City Council was talking to Royal Carting (the garbage company that picks up our trash) about the following year’s trash and recycling pickup contract, a few observational comments were made by then-Mayor Randy Casale and Councilperson at Large George Mansfield about how the recycling market had turned "topsy-turvy," in part because what is being put into the recycling bin is contaminated - aka coated with food and other nonrecyclable materials. 

Beacon Used To Earn Money From Recycling - Now It’s An Expense

Beacon used to make money off the recycling collected from homes. There was a market for purchasing recyclable items like cardboard and plastic. However, thanks to China tightening its requirement on how clean the recycling needs to be - almost 100 percent clean, as in rinsed, no food on it, no soggy paper, no plastic bottle caps floating around the recycling bin, that sort of thing - Beacon is paying to have the recycling taken away. That’s a hit to Beacon’s budget.

Worse, the recycling that is being taken away might not be getting recycled at all since China won’t buy most of it.

Deep Dive Into The Recycling Problem

We are taking a Deep Dive into this issue, because when you ask yourself: "If it's not being recycled, where is it going?" you get some pretty bleak images of the floating barge of trash around New York City, the wad of plastic floating around the ocean, the massive amounts of methane gas coming from piles of trash, and food waste in landfills causing methane fumes.

You quickly see how there is not enough space on Earth to put the trash. And no, shooting it up into space is not an option. Space is already littered with orbiting satellite debris from when countries experiment with shooting things up there (yes, they have actually mapped out each floating piece of "space junk" if it's the size of a softball or larger to track it). So what gives?

Kayleigh Metviner Zaloga introduces us to the issues in order to help us discover and create a solution. But first, you'll need to get familiar with these basic ideas:

  • Money: Recycling is good for the planet, but it has to pay for itself and be profitable in order for it to be done. Businesses have been created to deliver recycling solutions: They collect the goods, sort them, clean them, even using technology to identify it (with high-tech machines and people who sort), and sell it to other businesses, who turn it into carpet or clothing or recycled paper, which consumers then buy as retail products.

  • Value: Different types of recycling, like glass bottles, newspaper, cardboard, or plastic to-go containers, have different values for these businesses. A single item, like a plastic laundry detergent bottle, might have a really high value (but is dirty inside with the last drops of detergent, so the processing center has to clean it). A wine bottle, on the other hand, is really recyclable, but is dirty inside with old wine. Cleaning the inside of a tall and narrow glass bottle is difficult and costly, which kills its market value.

  • A Solution Caused A Problem: Sadly, the invention of "single-stream" recycling, which is when you can throw ALL of the recycling into one can, is now messing up the system because it's all too much to sort. Oddities like a single bottle cap from a plastic water bottle is considered "contamination," but if that cap is attached to the bottle, it's all good. So convoluted.

  • Buyers: China was the biggest buyer of paper to be recycled. They didn't care if it was a little dirty. Now they do. As of January 1, 2018, they basically put the kibosh on buying it. This has created backed-up piles of compressed recycled paper waiting to be reused, but those bundles sit at recycling processing centers with nowhere to go because no one is buying it.

  • Food: Food makes up most of our trash. And wrecks a lot of recycling! Good news: Food composting is really easy!!! You just scrape the food into a special bin with a critter-proof lid, and have companies like Community Compost Company take it away to be turned into rich soil, without any of the big technology involved.

OK, now you're ready for Kayleigh's article on where this started:

Recycling in Communities

By Kayleigh Metviner Zaloga

Most people don’t realize that municipal recycling (aka household recycling) worked so well for so long because certain materials in our trash, like newsprint, glass, and plastic bottles, had economic value and could be sold to make everything from copy paper to carpets, making recycling profitable for processing facilities and a boon to city budgets.

In 2016, the City of Beacon was paid for every ton of recyclables picked up from residents and brought to the ReCommunity (now Republic Services Recycling) processing center.

The increase in recycling also reduced the volume of trash in everyone’s bins, saving the city money on garbage disposal. It was a win-win, both financially and environmentally. But at a presentation at a City Council Workshop on August 27, 2018, Steve Hastings of Republic Services informed the City Council that “recycling is broken,” profits are nowhere to be seen, and the current model may not be sustainable. Governor Cuomo has called for a series of meetings on what to do with the recycling being collected that may be ending up in landfills, and Beacon’s former mayor also indicated, in a past City Council meeting on May 29, 2018, that other counties in the state may stop recycling all together.

What’s Going On?

There are three main factors in this recycling industry sea change:

American mixed paper used to sell for an average of $75 per ton. Now it sells for $5 per ton.

1. China Basically Stopped Buying Lots of Recycling on January 1, 2018
China was the largest importer of recycled materials for decades, and the United States was one of its largest sources. Effective January 1, 2018, however, the Chinese government banned the import of 24 types of solid waste, including scrap plastics and mixed paper. They used to have a 3 percent contamination cap that, according to Steve, was rarely checked. Now they have a 0.5 percent contamination cap, and it is regularly checked by China by opening up bales of processed recycling at the docks, and sending it back if it has more than 0.5 percent dirtiness. Steve says it's an impossible standard to hit, despite their efforts. This triggered a huge drop in the prices that various municipal recycling components sold for. For example, American mixed paper used to sell for an average of $75 per ton. Now it sells for $5 per ton.

Recycling needs to be 100 percent clean before going into the bin. Any plastic with food on it won’t be recycled. Wet paper or cardboard won’t be recycled, either. Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

Recycling needs to be 100 percent clean before going into the bin. Any plastic with food on it won’t be recycled. Wet paper or cardboard won’t be recycled, either.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

2. Contamination: Food (i.e. Dirty Recycling)
The leftover lettuce in your plastic salad to-go container. That last scoop of peanut butter in the jar. Yogurt still in the yogurt cup. Wet cardboard. Plastic grocery bags. Garden hoses. Greasy pizza boxes. Plain old garbage. All of these are things that do not belong in recycling bins. Throwing them in anyway contaminates all of the salvageable materials; worse, it can result in whole loads of recyclables being sent to a landfill. High contamination levels were also one of the main reasons the Chinese government banned many foreign recyclables.

People really need to have it sink in that recycling is really just a band-aid at this point… The reality is that a lot of it doesn’t end up being recycled. People will throw everything they think of in recycling that might work, and it becomes dead weight for the company that processes it.
— Atticus Lanigan, Owner, Zero to Go

3. “Wishful Recycling” - Feel-Good Recycling That Actually Kills Recycling
”Wishful recycling” was a term Steve used, for when someone throws something into the recycling container and feels good about it, but that thing is actually not recyclable. Like plastic of the wrong recycling number, a dirty wine bottle or yogurt quart, or soggy paper or cardboard. He actually stressed this directive: “When in doubt, throw it out.” They really don’t want mistaken recycling. At all.

Plummeting Profits In Recyclables Could Kill Collections

No one ever thought there was a cost to recycling because the commodities covered it,” Hastings told the City Council. “So then when the commodities market flipped on its ear… Now all of a sudden it’s a red mark on every budget across the country.
— Steve Hastings, Republic Services

Since the announcement of the Chinese ban, prices in the recycling market have plummeted. Republic Services in Beacon is still accepting and processing mixed paper and newsprint, but high contamination rates and low prices may drive the facility to reconsider, Steve informed the City Council at the August workshop meeting.

Although reducing the volume of garbage in landfills is a good thing, simply shifting that garbage to recycling facilities is not. If the material cannot be processed, sold, and reused, it will likely end up in the landfill anyway.

“No one ever thought there was a cost to recycling because the commodities covered it,” Hastings told the City Council. “So then when the commodities market flipped on its ear… Now all of a sudden it’s a red mark on every budget across the country.” A complete market flip is no exaggeration: Materials that Republic Services sold for $120 per ton in July 2017 dropped to only $32 per ton last month (editorial reminder that this was originally written in 2018) after China’s ban was in place.

What Is Happening To Individual Markets for Recycling?

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“We do have to come up with a model that is durable, sustainable … and isn’t captive to just the commodity values,” Hastings said. Glass, for example, is no longer a profitable material to process in most municipalities because it breaks, and in fact has a “negative recycling value,” meaning most recycling facilities have to pay for the material to be sorted out of the other recycling, then hauled away instead of selling it for a profit. The glass collected in Beacon's residential recycling bins is currently sent - at a financial loss - to a processing facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Some counties upstate have been transferring their glass to landfills for years. Here, it sounds like you should cart the glass bottles to Key Food or Hannaford, or to the local place in Beacon that can allocate your money back to a local PTA/O for Beacon school kids.

Some Counties Across the Country Are Stopping Single-Stream Recycling

Even though glass, newsprint, and certain metals and plastics can be recycled and remade into all kinds of products, plummeting prices, rising processing costs, and constricting markets are making recycling industry analysts and municipal leaders alike reconsider the current system. In some parts of the country, especially in western states like Idaho and Washington, municipalities have stopped collecting the materials they can’t find a market for, like the scrap plastics and paper now banned by China. Other communities, like Saugerties, are ditching single-stream for different collection bins and then use Beacon’s recycling location to dump commingled products.

Is It The Tariff War? China Warned About Contamination For Years

Contamination, also known in the industry as residue, is all the stuff that can’t be recycled by a particular facility and should not be mixed into the recyclables sent there. A high contamination level makes processing materials more difficult, and it was also the driving force behind China’s import ban. As more and more municipalities implement recycling programs, especially the single-stream variety that lets residents throw all of their recyclables into one container, companies that process these materials are noticing higher levels of contamination in the resulting haul.

But China Needs and Wants The Recycling - They Are Hurting

China used to buy pulp for $220 a ton. After the ban, they buy it for $700 a ton.
— Steve Hastings, Republic Services

China is not having a great time with this ban either. The thing is, Steve explained, China needed our recycled paper for pulp. They don't have their own pulp, and they need to buy it. According to Steve, China used to buy pulp for $220 a ton. After the ban, they bought it for $700 a ton.

“So where is the savings for China?” Councilperson George Mansfield asked.

“There is no savings," explained Steve. "It’s a disaster on the Chinese front for the capitalist side of China. From the government standpoint, they have an anti-pollution campaign they are running hard. We never thought they would go six to eight months without the material [pulp aka paper].”

Whether it be nonrecyclable materials (like diapers, garden hoses, and syringes) or simply recyclables that have too much food garbage on them (peanut butter jars and to-go containers are notorious for this), contamination has become an increasing - and increasingly costly - problem.

Since too much contamination, even with other types of recyclable materials (e.g. glass in the newspaper bale), renders materials essentially useless, recycling centers need to spend more and more resources sorting and cleaning everything that is dropped off. This involves buying or inventing more elaborate technology, as well as hiring people to pick through the recycling, remove inappropriate items, and clean debris off materials.

At the Beacon Republic Services facility, the mixed recyclables move through “a series of sorting tables, devices, magnets, opticals, and people” - over 50 people per shift - to end up separated by material and grade, explained Steve. Spending more on processing would not be a problem if there were increasingly profitable markets for the end products, but that is where some of the biggest changes are taking place. Because the profits have disappeared, processing centers may close altogether, thus eliminating those jobs. Already, one of the biggest processing centers in the country in Miami has closed "overnight," said Steve.

Worldwide Trend of Rejecting Dirty Recycling

The Chinese government’s main reason for banning foreign recyclables and lowering contamination limits was that the materials were coming in too highly contaminated and were creating an even bigger pollution problem for the country. Although American companies have responded by increasing their exports to other countries, primarily in Asia, some of these countries appear to be following China’s lead and may institute their own limits and bans.

Republic Services currently sells materials to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, but the shipping costs to these countries are significantly higher than what it used to cost to ship to China. Trading with China also had the added benefit of forming a kind of shipping loop, where U.S. recyclables were shipped on containers to China, and Chinese manufacturers shipped finished goods back to the U.S.

An Opportunity For A U.S. Recycling Market? Maybe, But Risky…

Would the U.S. market develop to replace the work that China was doing? "We’d love to see it," said Steve. But investing in a new facility is a risk. What if China opens up again? "There have been two paper mills open in the last 10 years in North America. They are both in Indiana, and they are both cardboard manufacturers. They’re dead in the middle of the country because of the fear that [if] the export economy opens up again, they fear they won’t be able to compete again."

As for domestic markets, there is simply not enough demand for these kinds of production materials in the U.S., though that could change in the future. A strong need for something always inspires entrepreneurs to bring on the solutions. In the meantime, American recyclables are looking at other options.

Real-Life Effects At Home In Beacon

“We are at a crisis at this point,” said City Council member Amber Grant at the Workshop meeting. "The fact that we’re barely even recycling what we think we are, and now we have this issue on top of it which will now impact people's pocketbooks... We need to teach people how to recycle better and give them the tools to do it." Councilperson John Rembert voiced his agreement.

“The economics are critical,” Steve said. “The model is broken the way it’s written. The processors need to get a processing fee, and the commodity piece has to be a shared component of it."

It has only been two years since we last looked at the costs and benefits of recycling in Beacon, but we are a long way from the days when the City earned money from each ton of recyclables collected. That additional income is no longer part of the arrangement, and going forward, Republic Services will seek a new rate structure to cover the increased processing costs that are not made up for by selling the materials.

In addition to considering how processing facilities are paid, Steve and the City Council members discussed limiting the materials that can be thrown into the single-stream recycling bins. “We have to simplify what we put in there,” Steve said. “There are a lot of items that can be recycled, [but] they may not belong in the [recycle bin].”

The hope is that by collecting fewer items and emphasizing the need to clean and dry objects before throwing them in the bin, there will be less contamination and more usable material. This is not to say that everything else should be sent to the landfill, however. Steve suggested having drop-offs and other arrangements for other materials.

Addressing The Crisis At The New York State Level

At the New York State level earlier this month, Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the Department of Environmental Conservation to convene stakeholder meetings to identify how the state can improve recycling and even “expand municipal recycling programs” in the face of changing global markets. One goal of this initiative will be to identify open markets for recycled materials. The inaugural meeting was on August 29.

Suggestions to Save Recycling

People's behaviors will need to change if any trash is going to be reduced. Here are some suggestions:

  • Reuse the durable products that can have a second life right in your own home, like glass jars.

  • “When in doubt, throw it out,” said Steve. Ouch! Only throw in items that you know are accepted by your local facility. Even though we may want more goods to be recycled, this aspirational recycling only leads to higher contamination rates and more materials being sent to landfills.

  • Clean It: “Clean material is the answer,” said Steve. Thoroughly clean any food debris, laundry detergent, and other non-recyclable materials off containers. Consider switching to powder detergent in the cardboard box.

  • Cap It: “If a cap falls off a bottle, it’s residual [aka contamination]. If it’s on the bottle, it’s great.” Screw lids onto plastic bottles before throwing them in.

  • Glass Bottles - Skip the Bin: If you want to give your glass bottles a better chance at being turned into new bottles, put them in the specialized bottle deposit machines that sort them, crush them, and keep them free of contamination.

  • Food Composting - For Real! 40% Reduction in Trash: Aside from smarter recycling, Atticus Lanigan, owner of Zero To Go, an education-based waste management company focused on composting and recycling in Beacon, also suggests taking a hard look at the other types of waste we routinely throw away. “40 percent of our waste is organic and rots in landfills,” she said, even though much of it can easily be composted. “People really need to have it sink in that recycling is really just a Band-Aid at this point… The reality is that a lot of it doesn’t end up being recycled. People will throw everything they think of in recycling that might work, and it becomes dead weight for the company that processes it.”

To Be Continued...

This story about how recycling as we know it is in jeopardy is to be continued, as perhaps we all make changes to reduce our footprint, both in terms of our rotting trash and the greenhouse gases it emits, as well as the growing stock of recyclable material that can’t rot and has nowhere to go.

New and Easy Guidelines To Recycling In Beacon To Avoid "Wish Cycling"

Before the representative from ReCommunity (acquired by Republic Services), Steve Hastings, presented his in-depth “Recycling Has Halted and Here’s Why 101 Class” to City Council back in May 2018, it was easy for people to say: “My recycling bin is full! I recycle everything! It’s great!”

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Thing is - it wasn’t great - and all that extra stuff that may have been thrown into the recycling bin - like a kids’ toy, a dirty bottle of liquid laundry detergent, or a yogurty yogurt cup - was and is contaminating the recycling batch, rendering it useless. And while Steve never committed to saying what happens to disposed of matter that is not recycled, you would need to just think about where the recycling goes when it can’t be recycled - straight to the trash. Wherever that is, and in whatever form that takes.

After the de-brief and the resulting feelings of “Horrors! This is awful! Nothing I am recycling is probably being recycled!” people wanted clearer guidelines. The Beacon Green Coalition heard that call loud and clear, and developed a nifty new flyer in 2019. You may still see it hanging around. Ask the city to email you one if you want to print it out at home. Here’s what it says:

“Wish-cycling” - When You Think You’re Recycling But Really You’re Just Messing It All Up

Steve the recycling professional stressed the harmful effects of “Wish-Cycling.” That moment when you empty the applesauce jar and you toss it into the blue bin. Or when you just finished a sushi meal and you toss all of the soy sauce- and wasabi-covered plastic plates into the blue bin. Or when you’re cleaning out your kid’s toy room, and you recycle about 20 little plastic toys and lone battery backs.

“When In Doubt, Throw It Out”

Steve actually said this during the presentation in 2018. Several times. He begged people to throw away things if they weren’t sure if it should be recycled or not. But how do you know? How would you know that soggy cardboard or a meat juice-soaked paper bag was not eligible anymore for recycling?

In the past, the only way to know what to throw into the recycling bins were noted on the labels affixed to their lids but after some time, those labels tend to fade in the elements.

In the past, the only way to know what to throw into the recycling bins were noted on the labels affixed to their lids but after some time, those labels tend to fade in the elements.

The Easy-Peasy Recycling Guide

Here’s the breakdown of everyday items that can or cannot be recycled, as produced by the Beacon Green Coalition:

Rigid Plastic

YES (rinse everything)
Beverage containers: jugs, bottles, cups.
Food containers: clear clamshells, tubs, laundry detergent bottles (but rinse it 100% - if you can’t, then switch to powder)

TIP: If it’s paper or plastic and smaller than a credit card, throw it out.

NO
Plastic bags, straws (they always slip out of the recycling batch - too small), plastic utensils (forks, knives, spoons), caps (smaller than a quarter - just screw it back onto the beverage container), plastic wrap, Styrofoam, items smaller than a credit card.

Paper & Cardboard

YES
Newspapers, magazines, brochures, paper bags, mail including junk mail, envelopes with plastic windows, phone books, waxed cartons (e.g. juice and milk), shredded paper in a clear tied bag, corrugated cardboard and paperboard boxes, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, foil-lined cartons (for soup stock, etc).

NO
Soiled paper, food-soiled paper plates, pizza boxes, tissues, paper towels, coffee cups or lids.

Metal

YES
Aluminum and metal cans, metal jar lids and caps, empty aerosol cans, rinsed foil wrapping, pie plates, and trays.

NO
Hangers (return to dry cleaner), scrap metal (bring to a scrap metal recycler), foil juice pouches.

Glass

YES
Bottles and jars, other food containers, beverage containers, all cleaned glass products (even broken ones),

NO
Pyrex, ceramics, light bulbs, window glass.

Don’t Recycle These Household Items:

  • Batteries, electronics, cords (can be recycled at Best Buy - even Christmas lights!).

  • Plastic bags (take them to any large grocery store).

  • Plastic children’s toys

Handy Tips

Rinse rinse rinse! It’s a total waste if you don’t. You might as well not throw it into the recycling bin. It contaminates the entire batch. China won’t buy it, and we’re sunk.

Don’t bag the recycling - loose loose loose! Unless it’s shredded paper. And then put it into a clear plastic bag.

When in doubt, throw it out. :(… But let’s just know what to recycle in the first place, thanks to this handy guide from the City of Beacon and Beacon Green Coalition!

The Plastic Bag Ban Is Real - How's It Going?

Photo Credit: Brianne McDowell

Photo Credit: Brianne McDowell

Just last month, it used to be hipsterish to carry your tote bags to a grocery store. Forget about pulling them out at any other type of store, like a gas station, Rite Aid, or big-box store. You would just look plum “alternative” if you did (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Plenty of people carried the tote bags with pride, and showed off their tote bag collections from different magazines and brands they love, while others sometimes remembered to bring their totes stored in their cars. Now, thanks to the statewide ban on the single-use plastic bag (those plastic bags you see whipping around roads and catching on trees), everyone is carrying whatever bags they can remember into stores. Or maybe they are still carrying nothing at all.

“My husband came home the other night with groceries falling out of his arms,” recalled one Beacon resident. “Now he is trying to remember to bring the reusable bags in the car.” Common stories include people forgetting their reusable bags stashed in the car, only to dash out of the store to quickly grab them. Grocery stores like Key Food are making the paper and plastic reusable tote bags available at checkout. New York did not require stores to charge for the paper bags, as a deterrent to using any single-use bag, but many stores are charging 5 cents for the paper, and another rate for the reusable plastic tote. Key Food is charging 5 cents for their paper bags, and 99 cents for their reusable plastic bag, while Stop and Shop in Poughkeepsie is charging $2.50 for their reusable plastic bag. Beacon Natural is charging 5 cents for the paper bags, and does sell their cloth tote bag for $10, but has flash sales for $3.99 from time to time.

According to an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal, the cost of paper bags to a retail shop has increased. Nicole Wronga, owner of Simplicity, a consignment store, told the newspaper that the cost of 250 paper bags has increased from $42.50 to $47.50 (that equals 19 cents per paper bag, so even selling it at 5 cents is a loss for some who don’t order in huge bulk). It has caused Nicole to begin charging 5 cents for a paper bag, with 3 cents being donated to the state environmental budget, to encourage customers to bring their own bag.

Over here at A Little Beacon Blog, we sell tote bags, and now with the flooded market of totes (because we all need them), the price you might pay just plummeted. So, it costs us $7.50 to produce the bags locally in Newburgh, and we’re charging $10 right now.

BYO Bag - Bring Your Own Bag

New York State is branding this ban as BYO Bag (Bring Your Own Bag). Do you remember back in the 1990s, when the giant yellow plastic bags with blue handles were the rage? They were so giant, hardly anyone could really carry a full one. They equaled about three paper bags of groceries. Typically associated with Ikea bags, but sometimes sold by the Girl Scouts at grocery stores to encourage people not to use paper bags. The reusable bag has been tried before, but now it’s officially locked in. At least we know that paper bags are recyclable, but only if they are 100% dry, clean, and not wet with food.

Are Plastic Bags Of Any Kind The Answer?

Dutchess County uses about 100 million single-use plastic bags per year, according to the county legislature. In New York State, about 23 billion plastic bags are used each year. Year. That’s a lot of bags. Nick Wise, a shopper at Target who was quoted in the Poughkeepsie Journal, is from London, where the bag ban was phased in 10 years ago. From that ban, he experienced reusable plastic bags going to waste. With one of his reusable plastic bags already having a rip: “I know I can reuse them as much as I can, but they are going to end in the garbage at some point,” Nick told the Journal.

When word was coming down of the plastic bag ban, some retailers didn’t believe it would happen. And then Marc Molinaro, County Executive for Dutchess County, signed it into law in December 2018. Dutchess County’s ban went into effect January 1, 2020. Ulster County’s County Executive signed theirs into law in October 2018, while Suffolk County added a 5 cent charge to single-use plastic and paper bags in January 2018. And then New York State brought it all down with a state ban, set to go into effect in March 2020, which will eventually make it all less confusing. No single-use plastic bags anywhere in the state.

Plastic Bags In Trees, In Streets, In Recycling

Recycling executives have cited plastic bags as one of the most disruptive contaminants to their recycling production, which adds to the taxpayer cost of recycling in Beacon. During a 2018 presentation from Beacon’s recycling facility, ReCommunity (acquired by Republic Services), Steve Hastings explained to the City Council about how the single-use plastic bags are one of the biggest disruptors to their production, when they get loose and float up and get stuck in the machines.

A year after Suffolk County’s plastic bag ban, a study released revealed that 1.1 billion fewer plastic bags were used in the county since that ban, and the number of bags found polluting shorelines fell steeply compared with 2017, as reported by Newsday.

How The Plastic Ban Works For Retailers

You can read all about the plastic bag ban rules for Dutchess County here in this legislative resolution (aka law). Retailers or wholesalers who are engaged in the sale of personal, consumer, or household items must stop providing the single-use plastic bags. Paper bags that are provided must be 100% recyclable, be made from at least 40% recyclable material, and display the word “Recyclable” on the front.

Retailers could be fined $100 for their first violation, $250 for their second violation, and $500 for their third violation, and violations thereafter.

So how about getting more cloth tote bags? A Little Beacon Blog and Antalek & Moore have got some for you! :)

Clean Trees: Best Ways To Throw Away Your Christmas Tree In Beacon

Photo Credit: Vicki Raabin

Photo Credit: Vicki Raabin

It’s that time… Maybe you were on the ball and did it on January 1, or maybe you’re thinking of doing it today. The time has come to dispose of your Christmas tree, and here are best ways to do it. The City of Beacon’s Highway Department will pick it up for free, but you need to meet their requirements:

  • Nekkid: Strip that tree down of all ornaments, lights, bows, anything that is not the tree. These trees go to the Transfer Station to be mulched, so they can’t have any other element on them, other than natural nature. If you’ve moved from New York City, where putting out a fully decorated tree is the norm (there was some good trash/decoration picking to be had off those wasted trees!), well, you can’t do that here.

  • Sidewalk - in view: Leave that tree in plain sight on its side. If the workers in the trucks can’t see your tree, then they won’t stop to pick it up.

  • Give ‘em a call: If your Christmas tree has been out on the sidewalk for weeks and weeks, give the Highway Department a call to tip them off that your end of town could use a run. According to our article in 2017, the Highway Department divides the city into grids, and travels through the grids looking for trees to pick up.

Leaf bags are still being picked up, too. If you’ve got piles of leaves or aging grass clippings in your backyard, you could use this time to bag it, and put it to the curb before the next snowfall.

Photo Credits: We put out a tweet call for reader photos of Christmas trees they found on the sidewalk to be used in this photo. Thank you Vicki Raabin and Erin Giunta for your submissions!

Photo Credits: Erin Giunta

Misty Gray Day In Beacon Inspires Beauty Shown Through Photography

Graphic designer Ken Rabe of Rabe and Co. captured Beacon’s historic dummy light on the east end of town near the mountain.  Photo Credit: Ken Rabe

Graphic designer Ken Rabe of Rabe and Co. captured Beacon’s historic dummy light on the east end of town near the mountain.
Photo Credit: Ken Rabe

The gray mist has enveloped Beacon for the past several days, the only benefit of which can be seen via local photographers who have captured its special lighting and mood. We caught a few of them on Instagram, and are pulling them up to the surface for you to see. With rain in the forecast for the next few days, you can bet that the next sunny day will have people bouncing out of their houses to get back outside - if they haven’t already been getting fresh air with their slickers and rubber boots on despite the rain.

The kayak pavilion at Long Dock Park is reflected in the incredibly still Hudson River. Photo Credit: Carl Van Brunt of Carl Van Brunt Art

The kayak pavilion at Long Dock Park is reflected in the incredibly still Hudson River.
Photo Credit: Carl Van Brunt of Carl Van Brunt Art

Beacon Tips Out Of 2019 Drought Thanks To Rain and Snow

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As of early December 2019, Beacon has emerged out of the drought that started in October 2019, according to City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, who made the announcement at the 12/09/2019 City Council Meeting.

“The reservoirs continue to refill,” explained Anthony, with some still being below normal. But the Melzingah Reservoir (the city’s smallest) is “running over,” he said. In 2018, the drought proclamation was lifted in February.

City Of Beacon's Budget Calls for Hiring 3 Firefighters, 1 Police Officer, and 1 HR Person

The 2020 budget for the City of Beacon is making room to hire more first responders and personnel at City Hall, some of which is made possible by different federal grants.

3 Career Firefighters Would Be Hired By City Of Beacon

The budget reflects the addition of three career firefighters over a three-year period in the Fire Department budget. Earlier this year, the City of Beacon received a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) Grant in the amount of $537,423.15 in federal funding. The grant pays for 75% in the first two years and 35% in the third year. The total number of career firefighters in Beacon is 16.

1 Police Officer Would Be Hired For Main Street Patrol

The hiring of one police officer is in the 2020 budget, bringing the total patrol division to 30 officers. The Department’s total personnel would be 37, including the Police Chief, Captain and the Detective Division. “The intent,” according to the budget report, “is that this officer would be a dedicated Main Street Patrol.”

1 Full-Time Human Resources (HR) Position And City Clerk

A full-time human resource (HR) position is in the City Administrator budget for $65,000. “The main responsibility of the HR person,” according to the budget report, “will be to recruit new employees, retain and develop the existing work force, maintain all personnel files, employee benefits and compensation guidance, administration of civil service, training in required local and state policies, and assist in preparing policies and procedures.”

The budget also reflects the inclusion of the part-time Deputy City Clerk as full-time in the City Clerk budget (1410) for $18,685.

Climate Smart Coordinator Position Would Continue

The City of Beacon is on a mission to be more climate-smart and climate-friendly. Financial incentives are attached to this path, which are measured by a wide-ranging point system. The Climate Smart Coordinator stays on top of those points and looks for opportunities to gain points. According to a report from the current Climate Smart Coordinator, Beacon has 174 out of 300 points. The higher the points, the more opportunities open up. Currently, the coordinator is working on greenhouse gas inventories and alternative fuel structures. She is hunting for more points, and is feeling optimistic, per her presentation at the 11/25/2019 City Council Meeting. The Climate Smart Coordinator position is in the City Council budget for $9,500.

Summer Work Experience Opportunities For Beacon Youth

Included in the overall budget is $20,000 in the Recreation budget to work with the Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board (DCWIB) to provide summer work experience opportunities for Beacon youth.

Sun Is Out In Beacon!

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As you probably know by now, if your eyes are open and you have gone outside or looked out your window, you will see that the sun is shining in Beacon again. For those of you reading from afar, wondering how the storm was playing out, it seems to be done, leaving us with a fast rise in temperature to melt that freshly dropped ice snow.

There’s heaps of slush to contend with, and you’ll most likely be wearing your warmest waterproof boots for days. But if you needed to dry-clean your winter coat because you didn’t get a chance to at the end of last season, this week would be a good time, with the temperatures in the high 30s.

Beacon Sloop Club's Corn Festival To Include Live Music, Free Sailing, Tumblebus, and More (Free)

Photo Credit: Beacon Sloop Club

Photo Credit: Beacon Sloop Club

The Beacon Sloop Club’s Annual Corn Festival is this Sunday, August 11, from 12 pm to 5 pm at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park. To welcome the beginning of Fall, you can expect to nibble on sweet corn on the cob, cold watermelon, hot chili, cold drinks, and other summer treats. The mission of the Beacon Sloop Club is to protect the Hudson through environmental advocacy. Bringing you closer to the water is one way they do that. Admission to the Corn Festival is free. Info: www.beaconsloopclub.org

New! Kids Entertainment Will Include Tumblebus (Free)

This year’s festival will feature the Tumblebus, a full-size school bus converted into a mobile gym for kids from 18 months to 9 years of age. This special free activity for children will be open at this festival from 12 pm to 4 pm.

Live Music and Storytelling

Two solar music stages will have live performances from: Jonathan Kruk, storyteller, Susan Wright & Friends, Betty & The Baby Boomers, The Cabo’s, Ernie Sites, Roadhouse Roosters, Hank Woji, and Lydia Adams Davis. The festival will start with an original poem by Beacon Poet Peter Ullian, created to commemorate the festival.

More Things To Do, Including Free Public Sails On The Sloop Woody Guthrie

The festival will also feature environmental educational displays, craft and food vendors and many other free activities, fun for all ages! The Sloop Woody Guthrie will give free public sails. Sign-up begins at noon at the BSC tent.

New Corn Muffin Contest!

Rules and Regulations for Corn Muffin Contest!!

1. Anyone can enter. The only rule is the corn muffin must be made from scratch.

2. Prize for first place is $25.

3. To enter, bring your cornbread to the Contest Tent before 2 pm. Bring your cornbread on a dish or plate, along with a card with your name, phone number, and recipe. Besides the name of your recipe, please include the ingredients used. Winner will be announced at 3 pm.

From Route 9D, follow signs to the Beacon Metro‐North Train Station. Look for signs to Riverfront Park.

Beacon Opts Not To Kill The Geese; But Larchmont Does Kill The Geese On Wednesday, Granting Access To Private Residents Of Larchmont Gardens

It sounded a little unusual when the USDA Wildlife Services came to Beacon to propose to the City Council to round up, kill, and serve as food at shelters between 50 and 63 geese from Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park - in the name of protecting flights at Stewart Airport. The City Council heard the proposal, mostly responded that they were not comfortable with it, and passed on the pitch, effectively a polite but firm, “No thank you.”

Today, the Larchmont Loop, an online newspaper covering Larchmont in Westchester, reported that Canada geese were systematically killed at Larchmont Gardens early Wednesday morning. “The Town of Mamaroneck confirms the USDA euthanized a number of Canada geese on and around the Duck Pond in Larchmont Gardens early Wednesday morning.” Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately 18 miles northeast of Midtown Manhattan, according to Wikipedia.

In Larchmont, the USDA Wildlife Services came out in kayaks, rounded up the birds into a truck, drove them away, and processed them into food to serve at local food shelters. That method was the same proposal Beacon heard on Monday.

According to the article: “Private residents of the Larchmont Gardens neighborhood contracted with the USDA to remove the geese,” said a spokesperson for the Town. “It is a private contract, the Town just allowed them on Town property.”

Apparently Systematic Killing Of A Species In The Name Of Something Is A Thing

While the killing, otherwise known as “culling,” wasn’t something the City Council normally hears proposals on, contracting with the USDA APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) to do this has been happening. One reason it is happening right now this week is because the geese are in a “molt” stage, which means that their flight feathers have fallen out and they are sitting ducks for three weeks, unable to take flight.

For more information on Canada geese, their living habits, and on this program, see the earlier article A Little Beacon Blog wrote about it here.

Protection Of Geese - Until They Are Too Much And Killed

The Department of Environmental Conservation states that Canada geese are protected, but:

“All Canada geese, including resident flocks, are protected by Federal and State laws and regulations. In New York, management responsibility for Canada geese is shared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). It is illegal to hunt, kill, sell, purchase, or possess migratory birds or their parts (feathers, nests, eggs, etc.) except as permitted by regulations adopted by USFWS and DEC.'“

The DEC also does not allow the relocation of Canada geese at any point in the year, with or without a permit. At the Beacon presentation, the reasoning provided was that Canada geese prefer to come back to where they were hatched, and grow their families there.

One round of taking and killing the geese would not seem to do the trick, and in theory, would need to be repeated every year, for at least three years because when the females turn three years old, they are known to return to the place that they hatched, and lay their own eggs.

Once a pond or river is clear of geese, say, if they have been removed and killed each year for three years, would new geese settle there? During Beacon’s presentation, the USDA APHIS Services said that there are 250,000 Canada geese in New York, and their target number is 85,000.

That is a lot of exterminating.

PERSONAL NOTE: Just like with mice prevention in a house, I would probably get a cat, and vacuum and mop my floors. In the case of geese, if I elected to live near a pond or river where geese like to settle, I would probably get a dog, build a fence (to keep the dog in), and let the dog have geese play time.