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cooperative agreements with neighboring localities should likewise be part of long range planning, according to Ms. Bailey. “Regionalization is going to become more and more important.”
But she stressed that regionalization doesn’t mean all the area’s garbage goes to a single landfill. Rather the cooperating counties and towns assess their total needs: a sanitary landfill, a resource recovery plant, an ash disposal site for the plant’s waste, a construction and debris landfill, a composting facility ; and recycling centers. They then •> parcel out the various waste management components under the terms of a negotiated comprehensive regional plan, she explained.
This is now being done in the Tidewater area, Ms. Bailey noted. But that project was initially started in 1973, “so don’t wait until you have a year or two left in your landfill before you start looking at regional solutions,” she advised.
Ms. Bailey reported that the General Assembly’s subcommittee on recycling and waste reduction is now conducting hearings, the next set for input from local officials. According to the executive director of the Department of Waste Man- • agement, the committee is looking at ' legislative approaches to providing three things local governments need in developing their long range plans for solid waste management:
• Low cost financing of facilities; ways to finance recycling programs.
• More technical assistance, specifically for design and site selection.
• Assistance in regionalizing with emphasis on facilitating regional agreements.
But a prerequisite for success with solid waste management - be it waste reduction, recycling, alternative technologies, regionalization or building citizen confidence that regulatory agencies will achieve environmental protection - depends in large part on education, Ms. Bailey noted. And that education is lacking, she said, citing a recent poll by the Richmond Times-Diapatch newspaper as an example. Accord- ' ing to the poll, 95 percent of Richmonders are satisfied with the way their garbage is being handled. But other studies indicate that only five percent of the people in Richmond and anywhere else actually know where the garbage goes, Ms. Bailey concluded.
91.2%