Curbside recycling in Sharon has fallen drastically in the last decade, showing that residents have all but quit separating their trash from their ecological treasures.

When Sharon's recycling program started in 1990, about 22 percent of residents participated, said Joseph Baldwin, former city councilman and one of the driving forces behind the recycling program.

Only 2 percent of residents did their part in 2000, according to figures from the Mercer County Solid Waste Authority. That is a 4.4 percent drop from 1999.

"That's ridiculous, 2 percent," said David O. Ryan, city controller and mayoral candidate. "I just think 2 percent is kind of deplorable ... There's not much sense in filling up landfills with recyclables."

"I think there was a lot of enthusiasm initially about recycling," said code officer Frank Smeraglia, who keeps track of the program. "I know that recycling is down considerably since the consumers had to go for the bags."

Baldwin and Ryan agreed, blaming the decline on residents being forced to buy bags for recycling since February 2000.

Residents buy bags at local grocery stores where they buy their garbage bags. Recycling bags cost 61 cents each and come in rolls of 10.

"It was a lot easier just to drop them into your green container and set it out on the curb. It's a little more trouble than it used to be," Baldwin said.

Until 2000, the city supplied residents with bins, bought through a state grant. That changed when the 2000 budget was reopened at the insistence of Councilman Lou Rotunno, who demanded that a 4-mill tax increase be trimmed to 2.5 mills.

Council cut the recycling program, estimating a savings of about $125,000, or more than 1 mill of property tax.

"It hurt," Baldwin said of council's decision. "I thought we had a good recycling program. We were, more or less, thinking ahead to our children and our children's children."

Residents most likely not to recycle are those with garbage toters, Smeraglia said, adding quite a few people have them. Those with toters can put an unlimited amount of trash at curbside.

Ryan said if he's elected, he would like to reinstitute the old recycling program, develop a better educational program and frequently remind residents of the need to recycle.

"I understand people in government have to look at the numbers, but somehow, some way I'd like to see them go back to the old plan," Baldwin said.

Rotunno, who also is running for mayor, said he voted to change the program because the trash hauler at the time, BFI, was not separating recyclables from garbage.

"Would it make sense for us to pay $125,000 to have it dumped in with regular garbage?" he asked.

This year, Waste Management has the city's trash-hauling contract and Rotunno said he would like to change the program again. A possibility, he said, would be for residents to drop off recyclables at the city garage during business hours and one Saturday a month.

After using that system for awhile, Rotunno said, he would determine the support for it and continue to develop it.

The state encourages cities of 5,000 or more people recycle at a rate of 35 percent, Baldwin said. Sharon's population is 16,328, according to 2000 Census data.

"(Baldwin) spent many hours building and nursing our former program in an effort to achieve mandated plateaus only to see all his hard work devastated by the current program," Ryan said.