NEW CASTLE Putting out paper fires?

Under the mayor's plan, newspapers will be shredded and sold to farmers.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The days of burning trash in the city may be numbered.
Mayor Timothy Fulkerson says he's found an alternative to burning newspapers and is looking for a place to take cardboard.
The New Castle City Rescue Mission has agreed to pick up newspapers each Saturday in June and July at different locations in the city.
The rescue mission operates a newspaper shredding operation that employs men in its drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, said Kevin Green, executive director.
The newspapers are shredded and then sold to farmers who use it for animal bedding, he said.
The key: Fulkerson said the program with the city rescue mission will only continue if residents participate.
"We are asking neighbors to help other neighbors. If someone is too elderly to take their papers out, maybe someone could pick them up and take them to the site," he said. "This is only going to work if we use it."
Fulkerson said he has been looking for alternative ways to dispose of newspapers and cardboard since he vetoed a city council ordinance banning burning in April 2000.
The city permits people to burn newspapers and cardboard during the daylight hours on Saturdays for a $10 yearly fee.
City council voted April 13, 2000, to ban all burning, except open fires used for cooking. City council members said they were concerned about the effects burning had on the environment.
Fulkerson said he is now looking for a place for residents to dispose of cardboard and would support a burning ban if one is found.