HOA Question Recycle and trash in same truck!

I asked Patriot to provide information regarding the concerns above and received the information below. Please contact either the HOA office or Patriot Disposal if you require further information.

"From March 1 until December 24, we are required to separate yard waste from trash. So, every Monday there is a yard waste truck and a trash truck, and on Thursdays there is a recycling truck (for the plastic, glass, paper items, etc.) and a trash truck. On the off season, we are not required to separate yard waste from trash, so we only collect trash on Mondays, which includes any yard waste that is out at the curb. On the two days in January when we pick up Christmas trees, we have a trash truck on Monday and a truck for Christmas trees only. Separating the Christmas trees from the trash saves us a TON o f money; however, they only accept CLEAN trees and live trees. It isn't clear to me if someone is saying they saw us putting trees in with the trash today, or if they are talking about us mixing recycling with trash (which I will explain also). If they are talking about us mixing Christmas trees with trash, the trees were probably not CLEAN in some way - i.e. they had ornaments, lights or tinsel on them or they were artificial or they were bagged. The Loudoun County Landfill will reject and entire load of trees if the entire load does not contain clean trees. In that case, instead of dumping them for free, we are charged by the ton. So if there's even a question about one tree, they will err on the side of caution, and not take it in the "tree" truck.

Every Thursday, we collect recyclable materials in one truck and trash in a separate truck. Both facilities - the landfill and the recycling center -- check the loads that are brought in and if there is more than a certain percentage of recycling in the trash, the landfill will fine us (three chances and you're out). If we have more than a certain percentage of trash in our recycling, the recycling center will reject the load and we have to pick it up and take it somewhere else. Not only that, but we have to pay by the ton to get rid of the trash, but there is no charge for the recycling. So we have zero motivation to mix them!

A lot of things go on out there - people put trash in their recycling bins, for example; in which case our guys will empty it into the trash truck. A homeowner watching from the window, however, may not be able to tell that there is trash in that recycling container! One time, we figured out that our recycling guys were combining the recycling from the little bins into empty trash containers (the trash truck had already been through) and then emptying that into the recycling truck. It is so much easier for them and saves time. But if a homeowner happened to look out at that time and see them doing that, not knowing that the trash truck had already been there, of course it would appear that we are putting recycling in with the trash.

Regarding our trucks having different "bins:" When we originally got the contract, we did have 2 trucks that were split in half, so that you could put recycling on one side and trash on the other. However, we don't have those trucks anymore - it wasn't efficient. Those were very confusing, though, because unless you looked at the truck from behind, you could not see that the truck was split in half.

We also have the GPS system, and I can pinpoint for any address which trucks were there and at what time. So, for example, if I did not see a recycling truck going to every part of Broadlands, it would be obvious from the GPS data, and we would resolve that...there's just no way we could mix all that recycling with trash and not get caught at the landfill. It's too risky to even attempt it; if we are caught doing that 3 times, we would be banned from taking materials to the landfill at all, and would be out of business, essentially.

If you can get specifics about who saw what, which day/time, I could be most specific."