By the JG/T-C Editorial Board

OUR VIEW: Recycling must be available for all
By the JG/T-C Editorial Board
editorial@jg-tc.com
Organized recycling efforts in Charleston and Mattoon have been limited, but encouraging.Both cities, and many other area towns, have offered public drop-off recycling bins for some time. Residents could voluntarily bring recyclable materials to various locations in each city.

More recently, curbside recycling programs have begun in both Charleston and Mattoon. In Charleston, staff from three different trash hauling companies will pick up recyclable materials at private homes and businesses — for a fee. In Mattoon, one garbage hauler offers this service.It’s hard to argue that recycling of any kind — whether it be plastic, glass, aluminum, newspaper or some other material — isn’t a good idea, both financially and environmentally.

Consider these facts (provided by dosomething.org):
* Recycling one ton (about 2,000 pounds) of paper saves 17 trees, two barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for six months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of pollution.

* Every month Americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper (think: Empire State Building), but all of these jars are recyclable.

* If all of our newspapers were recycled, we could save about 250 million trees each year. If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we could save about 25 million trees each year.

* Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. In spite of this, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every three months.

Recycling just makes sense, and there is growing enthusiasm among area residents for environmental efforts such as this. Not all residents, however, seem aware of the recycling options available to them. Perhaps city officials and garbage haulers need to do a better job of explaining local recycling options to the public.

The main sticking point for local recycling programs, however, seems to be the cost. Charleston Mayor John Inyart recently announced that he intends to close the city’s drop-off bins now that residents have the option for curbside recycling. Mattoon officials have indicated they plan to keep the city’s drop-off bins.

Inyart noted that he couldn’t justify using taxpayer money to pay for the drop-off bins when other recycling options are now available.We disagree with this decision.We believe it’s taking a step backward to remove recycling drop-off bins. Residents of rural areas can use the bins, as can any residents who wish to recycle but do not want to pay extra for the convenience of having someone pick it up at their home.

In order for recycling efforts to be successful, it has to be available and affordable for everyone.Advocates for a healthy environment propose the idea to “reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink.”We urge Charleston officials to “rethink” the decision to discontinue the drop-off recycling bins. It’s simply the right thing to do.
— JG/T-C Editorial Board