Pocono News Section

Trash Talk

Trash Talk - Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 4:43PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008 @ 04:43pm EST
POCONO SUMMIT - People trust when glass, plastic and cans are separated, garbage men will take them to be recycled. But that's not always the case and one woman is irate.

Turns out one company in the Poconos may just be throwing the stuff away and someone caught it on tape.

Noreen Gorka recycles everything she can. She was excited when she found a garbage company that would pick up her recycling for free, Richard Holmes and Sons, based in Tobyhanna.

"I was like oh great. It's a small local company and I'm saving money too. I said it doesn't get much better than that," she said.

Turns out the deal was too god to be true. She says she caught a garbage man dumping her recycling with the other trash.

She exclaimed, "I couldn't believe it - I figured maybe they're now or whatever - I called and complained."

An RHS manager said it wouldn't happen again, but Noreens says it did.

She explained, "I see him look around and see if anyone is watching - dragging the recycling bin to the other side of the truck - open up the thing and dump it in. "

It was Earth Day and for Noreen, it was the last straw. The next garbage day, she videotaped her trash pick up and once again the glass, plastic and cans went right in with the regular trash.

"Why. Why would you do something so wrong," asked Noreen.

Eyewitness News talked to the garbage company manager over the phone. He first blamed the county saying they didn't give him a place to put recyclables. The county says that's not true. Then he blamed the family and said he couldn't take their stuff because they don't sort it.

Noreen countered, "If he would have asked me, I'd be more than happy to sort it."

She took her tape to the Waste Management Authority in Monroe County, which slapped RHS with a $1,000 fine.

Noreen hopes the warning helps put a lid on the messy situation.

This isn't the first time RHS has been in trouble for dumping recycling. In September the Waste Management Authority sent the company a warning.