By Staff
Recycle Now preps for meeting with city council
Recycle Now will be present at the City Council meeting Sept. 10 for the purpose of bringing our concerns to the mayor and councilmen. It is our hope that the council will see fit to set a workshop date when they and the appropriate department heads will invite an expert to talk to them about a realistic recycling program that Atmore might inaugurate.
On Aug. 22, members of Recycle Now had the good fortune to meet a recycling expert, Mr. Tony Cross, the Solid Waste Coordinator of Daphne. Mr. Cross spent one solid hour with us and shared details of his on-going success managing the Recycling Facility Solid Waste Authority. Beginning with nothing in Fiscal Year 2001, no equipment, no space, no personnel, Daphne's program is now self-supporting and generates substantial income for the city – all at NO cost to the residents. Theirs is a no-fee curbside pick-up system. It involves only one recycle container (furnished by the city) per household. The once-a-week recycle collection is in addition to their twice-a-week regular garbage collection for which Daphne charges each household only $13.90 per month.
A brief research reveals that there are many types of recycle programs out there. Many, perhaps most, are labor-intensive and involve the householder paying a monthly fee. The program Mr. Cross operates in Daphne is the most painless system I've seen. It is as easy to recycle in Daphne as it is to throw an item in the trash.
Recycling would serve Atmore well financially in three ways: 1) We would spend less for landfill usage. 2) We would need fewer garbage trucks (with their costly gas, oil, repairs and maintenance) and fewer garbage men. 3) Monies would flow into the municipal treasury from the sale of recyclables. And the whole world would be a better place.
It is a realistic goal to envision Atmore with a recycling system similar to Daphne's. Certainly there can be no opposition to the idea of recycling-not now, in 2007. Hopefully, our city authorities will set a really high priority on this effort. Our Recycle Now group is meeting one more time before we go to the council meeting.
Please join us at the Atmore Public Library, at 10 a.m. on Sept. 1.
Letitia Digmon
Spokesperson for Recycle Now