REPORTER FILE PHOTO | Indiscriminate dumping by commercial carters might soon cost them dearly.

Attention, commercial carters: If you don’t separate recyclables from solid wastes, you will not only be stopped from dumping truckloads at the Shelter Island Recycling Center, but you’ll will be hit with a “contamination” fee.

That’s the word from Department Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr.  It’s only fair, Mr. Card told the Reporter Friday morning, since the town, if it accepted the comingled waste, could be subject to a contamination fee imposed by the state.

Fees are easier to impose than fines, Mr. Card said. since a system of fines involves ticketing and possible court dates.

The DPW commissioner is also considering licensing haulers who use the Shelter Island facility so the department knows who they are and how much they typically dump.

Regulating dumping by private carters needs to be part of the overall management plan at the recycling center, Mr. Card said.

This was made clear on Martin Luther King Day when a carter that usually dumps in Southold was stopped from unloading comingled wastes here. When glass shattered on the steel plates the racket alerted town workers to the recyclable material mixed in with wet garbage.

Mr. Card spoke with the company owner, informing him of the rules.
The owner insisted he was unaware his workers were comingling garbage and recyclables and vowed to stop the practice.

Mr. Card pointed out comingling was actually costing the private carter more money because there’s a $200 per ton fee for dumping solid wastes while there’s no fee for dumping recyclables. When the two are mixed, the load is heavier and the carter is being charged.

“I’m all for working with these guys,” Mr. Card said about the commercial carters. “I’m not trying to run these guys through the wringer.”