Back to Recycling "In The News"
By Louise Sullivan
Recently, my very proper auntie from away was visiting. During her stay we visited the Transfer Statiion and saw someone throwing reams of newsprint and cardboard into the hopper rather than placing them in the large marked containers nearby. I was about to speak my fellow resident, but decided to ask Auntie what she thought I should do. Here’s her response.
“My dear, I sympathize with your dilemma. Here you have an example of a citizen disposing of rubbish as he/she sees fit. On the other hand, as a member of the Recycling Committee, you are concerened with encouraging the most responsible course of action which is to buy less, reuse what one can, and dispose of the remainder in the most conscientious way possible.
Recently, I took the liberty of looking at the excellent municipal website your town maintains. I saw that refuse disposal is the 6th highest budget line after the schools. Refuse disposal costs each man, woman, and child $55.00 per year. That’s almost as high as Fire and Rescue costs for the citizenry! As I understand it, the town actually realizes some profit from the sale of cardboard, and the total bill for waste disposal is reduced by the amount of recycled paper, plastic, glass, and metal that the town sends to the Regional Waste Cooperative.
Under these circumstances, and in these tight budgetary times, it certainly is imperative that all citizens do what they can to help.
However, it’s a free country. It would not be at all polite
to harangue that citizen while he/she is in the act of disposal. My advice
is to redouble your efforts at educating the citizenry as to the importance
of reducing, reusing, and recycling, making certain that it is clear to one
and all that it’s easy and convenient to do so.”