"Someone taking our papers never occurred to us." Staff writer Hamil R. "I don't know what we are going to do," Silberman said. Residents have reported seeing someone in a dark blue pickup truck with Maryland tags picking up papers before dawn. He suspects that someone is swooping in ahead of him. In the last few days, however, he has noticed empty curbs where stacks of newspapers used to be. Most days, he and his crew bring in more than six tons of material, some days as much as 10 tons. Silberman said he makes several trips daily to Capitol Fiber Inc., of Springfield, a subsidiary of The Washington Post, where he is paid about 6 cents a pound. He said residents have applauded them as they flung bags into their trucks, and some have left polite thank-you notes atop their bundles. At another, we picked up 12 phone books." "At one house, there were 12 bags of newspapers. "People who have been holding their recyclables for four weeks put out a lot of stuff," he said. With five friends and two rental trucks, Silberman was in business. He advertised by delivering 11,000 fliers - "Don't put your paper in the trash! We'll pick it up for college cash!" - in five neighborhoods of upper Northwest Washington, assigning collection days for each one. school board member Jay Silberman, said recycling initially looked like a good proposition but turned out to be hard physical work, with truck breakdowns and other unexpected setbacks. Silberman, an economics major and the son of D.C. But PaperOUT! will get out when the city gets back in. Mosley said Thumbs Up will continue even after the city resumes recycling. They are learning business, doing work and getting paid for it." These kids are at the most impressionable age. "For me, there is an added benefit to this recycling project," he said. John O'Leary, a neighborhood resident for 18 years, said he has given them business every week. Andrew Young, 10, is saving his money for a computer game. Cashier Ariel Cooper-White, 12, ate dinners at McDonald's for two days on her pay. They are learning business skills, like talking to customers and collecting cash."Ĭustomer representative Tyesha Headspeth, 11, said she spent the $8 she earned last week on a meal at Popeye's. "I just want to see it evaporate, just out of here," Mosley said.
#The go getters drop in center free
The hauler takes the trash away free to sell to a recycler. The money the children make for their four-hour workday comes from the contributions. The donators are asked to sign a contribution form presented by a "customer representative" - one of the children - and then pay $1 to $3 to the cashier. Five weeks ago, they handed out fliers and nailed up posters telling residents to come to 17th and Euclid streets NW on Saturday mornings to drop off recyclable materials.Įach week, more than a ton of newspapers, cans and bottles have been brought to the sidewalk beside a vacant lot. He organized an ad hoc venture called Thumbs Up and recruited Joe and other neighborhood children to help. Todd Mosley, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Adams-Morgan, decided that was too little, too late. King said the recycling program will resume in mid-June, and a news conference has been scheduled at 10 a.m. Meanwhile, the department directed residents to mix their trash or take recyclable items to several sites where private companies can collect it.
Residents' complaints prompted Public Works Director Larry King to suspend the recycling program again. Winfield requiring the program to continue.įor a few days, Department of Public Works employees picked up recyclables instead of regular trash. The Sierra Club sued and won an order from D.C. The city suspended its three-year-old residential recycling program April 29, contending that it was losing money and didn't have enough employees to make pickups. "I've made about $1,000 for school next year," said Silberman, a junior at Colgate University in New York, who started his first business venture only two weeks ago. In American University Park, Matt Silberman, 20, saw the same opportunity and organized his friends into a summer enterprise called PaperOUT! They collect only paper, but that includes magazines, junk mail and phone books, items the city had not picked up. "I'm going to be buying clothes for school next." "I bought these new shoes last week," he said, showing off a pair of black and white running shoes.
When the District dropped its recycling program last month, he and about a dozen friends in Adams-Morgan jumped in. Seven-year-old Joe McRae has figured out that there is money to be made in recycling newspapers, cans and bottles.
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