After dodging Baltimore's launch last year of "one plus one" recycling and trash pickup, Mount Vernon is finally getting its turn.
Starting Tuesday, Aug. 3, the city will be picking up recyclables in the area on Tuesday evenings only, and trash only on Friday evenings. Until now, the downtown district had been the last neighborhood in the city to keep getting both trash and recycling pickup twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Though confusing and unpopular to some, One plus one has saved the city money on pickups, while also reducing the volume of waste that must be burned or landfilled.
Pickups will begin at 6 p.m. each day, so residents need to put their cans out before then. Residents are allowed to put out an unlimited amount of recyclables, but their trash is capped at 96 gallons weekly.
As elsewhere in the city, trash must be put out in cans with tight-fitting lids. Recycling can be set out in paper bags, cardboard boxes or some other container, as long as it's marked "recycling." Recyclables in plastic bags will not get picked up.
Boundaries of the zone include Pratt Street, the Jones Falls Expressway, Preston Street and Dolphin, Harlem, Schroeder and Franlkin streetrs. For more info, call 311 or go to www.baltimorecity.gov and enter address on imap to see pickup schedule.
(2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)