Recycling is an issue that all citizens should be concerned about in Thurmont. Recycling can and will reduce your tax dollars, even through a large reduction in your tax bill. Just remember that every ton the town has hauled to the landfill the town and its citizens have to pay $40 per ton. As you have read in the newspaper last summer, the Frederick County landfill is filling up at a rapid rate. As of this letter, the town of Thurmont and other towns can no longer dump the waste treatment plant sludge at the county landfill.

Thurmont has to pay on the average of $50.51 per ton to have our sludge hauled to Chambersburg, Pa., for dumping.

If each citizen would sort out the recyclable items and use the blue bin that the county has provided for us, we could prolong our landfill for many more years. We are recycling approximately 38 percent to 40 percent of recyclable items. This is far below what we should be doing and can do. We should be recycling in the 80 percent range.

If you need another blue bin or need literature on recycling, please drop by the town office during the regular business hours for this. Also, there is a charge by the county for additional blue bin and covers.

As of this past April, the town has installed two 250-gallon waste oil recycling tanks. Also, we have two 55-gallon blue drums for recycling of anti-freeze. This is for northern Frederick County to use. As of Oct. 31, 2001, the town has recycled over 2,800 gallons of waste oil, and 55 gallons of anti-freeze. This I feel is a move in the right direction to keep this contaminate out of our stream, rivers and bay. I am proud of the people of Thurmont for using this drop-off location for waste oil and anti-freeze.

Please, when you use the drop center on Eyler Road at Eyler Park and behind the town office, do not place the wrong thing in the wrong place. And keep the area clean as if it were your own. When dropping off waste oil and anti-freeze, do not leave your filters in the fill box. Let them drain out in a pan at home for a week and then put them in the trash. Do not cross-contaminate the tanks; only put in what goes into that tank.

Together the citizens of Thurmont can make a big difference by recycling. I would like to thank you for your help in the past in the future for recycling in Thurmont.

At the present time, there are three recycling commission positions open along with one position for a high school person in the ninth or 10th grade. All persons must live in the town limits to be a member of this commission. The commission meets the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at the town office. Your help is needed. If you are interested in being a recycling commission member, please drop me a note telling why you would like to be on this commission: The Town of Thurmont, 10 Frederick Road, Thurmont, MD 21788 Attn: Recycling Commission.

Kenneth R. Oland, Thurmont

The writer is a Thurmont town commissioner.