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Recycling Piles Up In Baltimore Co. After Holidays

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) -- The trash is piling up in Baltimore County, as some residents won't have their recycling picked up for three weeks.

Andrea Fujii explains that with the holidays falling on Monday, thousands are left with a smelly mess.

There's a line to recycle at the drop-off center on Warren Road.

"It's a whole lot easier to just put it in a paper bag and bring it here," said Alice Gary.

With the past two Mondays as holidays, Baltimore County residents with Monday recycling pick-up were out of luck.

"We had to put everything out on the curb and realized, `Hey, guess what? They're not picking up today,'" said Brian Howard.

So folks are disposing of their Christmas aftermath on their own, not waiting until next Monday.

The county started single-stream recycling in 2010 and say this is the first time the holiday schedule has stopped pickups.

"When there's a holiday that means there's one fewer day to pick up the trash and recycling and the trash has to have the priority for sanitary reasons," said Charlie Reighart, Baltimore County Recycling.

In Timonium, Johanna Lindenmuth couldn't wait and trashed her recycling.

"It has been piling up. It's the cans and if you have a Ravens party, it's going to be bottles," Lindenmuth said.

But the county says a majority of residents will hold on to their recycling until pickup or take it to a recycling center.

Many residents say it's a small price to pay to stay green during the holidays.

"If I didn't do the recycling, I'd probably have two cans' worth of stuff out there so every week makes a big difference to us to try and get the recycling in," Howard said.

If you missed a pickup, there are recycling centers open all week in White Marsh, Cockeysville and Halethorpe.

The county will begin Christmas tree recycling next Monday through Jan. 14.

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