At the Tuesday, April 13 Lancaster City Council meeting, Mayor Rick Gray announced a new citywide program that will make disposing heavy household appliances a little bit easier. Effective immediately, the bureau of solid waste will provide collection services for “white waste” items such as air conditioners, washers, dryers, hot water heaters, and refrigerators.
Appliance pickup will come at a cost of $15—the price of an “extra service tag,” which can be purchased at the City Treasury.
Since many of these items contain environmentally harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Gray said, their proper disposal is required by federal air quality regulations. “This program provides a cost effective, convenient, and legal way to dispose of large appliances from homes and small businesses in the city,” Gray asserted.
Also at the Tuesday meeting, council voted to authorize city administrator to execute any additional forms required in the City’s effort to obtain federal relief for its 2010 snow removal expenses. Hopkins said during the meeting that “We’re hopeful that we’re going to get some sort of reimbursement,” noting that the officials from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) have indicated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will recognize a 16-18 county portion of the state as a “disaster area.”
According to Hopkins, the most that the City would receive in reimbursement would be about $180,000—the cost incurred during the City’s most expensive 48-hour stretch of the February snowstorms. The total bill incurred by the City during those weeks was about $340,000.
