By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BAY RIDGE — In the realm of recycling, Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights are leading Brooklyn. Three out of every five of the area’s residences and businesses recycle paper, plastic, glass and metal — a fact that gained the neighborhoods the Department of Sanitation’s highest rating.

Top-ranked Community Board 10, which serves the area, has an eco-friendly “green-attuned� attitude that has made it number one in recycling. “We do it right, placing our well-cleaned bottles and jars, and stacks of newspapers, by our curbs on pickup days,� said Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann.

A whopping 59 percent of the community recycles, according to just-released Sanitation Department figures. Coming in second are Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook, served by Community Board 6, with a 55 percent recycling rating.

Third are Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace, covered by Community Board 7. Those communities, with Board 6 neighborhoods to the north and Board 10 neighborhoods to its south, make Southwest Brooklyn a gold ribbon of recycling action. The higher rating for the Board 7 area is a welcome improvement, said District Manager Jeremy Laufer.

Brooklyn is fourth of the five boroughs in recycling at 41 percent. Across the Narrows, Staten Island is the city’s leader at 50 percent. Brooklyn’s worst community for recycling is Brownsville-Ocean Hill, where 24 percent of the residents recycle.

Second worst are Bedford-Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant Heights, followed by third-worst-place Crown Heights, Prospect Gardens, Lefferts Gardens and Wingate. Lack of proper facilities, say leaders in those areas, may be a factor in Central Brooklyn’s low ratings.

In the recycling mode of mind and action, the Bay Ridge business community has emphasized the growth of its environmentally friendly “green business.� These include The Green Spa and Wellness Center, the Little Cup Cake shop and café, and the Tri&Run sports store, all on Third Avenue.

Overflowing Corner Baskets A Growing Problem

While Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights lead Brooklyn in recycling, street trash collection by the city is worsening, according to a report made at a recent Board 10 meeting by Greg Ahl, chair of the board’s environmental committee.

“Sanitation pickups of corner baskets are down from twice a day, six days a week, and once on Sundays; to once a day, five days a week, and no weekend pick-ups at all,� said Ahl. The local Sanitation Department truck that empties baskets, he added, is shared with Board 12, which serves Borough Park, Kensington, Midwood and Ocean Parkway.

“With more cuts to the city budget, we have fewer pickups. Enforcement is down, and catching people putting household garbage in the corner baskets is very hard to accomplish,� noted Ahl, also a Fifth Avenue business owner. “We desperately need more pickups.� The board office is contacting Councilman Vincent Gentile about the situation, he said.

Two proposals were made at the environmental committee meeting, Ahl told the board at its recent meeting at the Shore Hill Community Room. These include removing corner trash baskets in a trial run and encouraging local businesses on certain blocks to adopt a corner basket and take care of it.

The city’s sanitation code is violated every time a resident places his household trash into a corner basket, since these are meant to be used as outdoor litter baskets. Beckmann mentioned the issue at a recent meeting of the Merchants of Third Avenue at Chadwick’s Restaurant.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net