September 18, 2007
![The Ledger]()
Opinion
the nature of things:
Trouble With Recycling Points to Larger Problem
By Tom Palmer
Last week I wrote about the progress Polk County had made in recycling.
From the responses I received, it is clear we could do better.
The issue is simple. Homeowners pay $174.50 per year to have their garbage picked up and disposed of. That includes weekly curbside recycling service.
However, there are places all over the county where homeowners call repeatedly and in vain to get recycling bins or to get the recyclables in the bins collected. They are understandably frustrated.
I've received enough of these complaints - including some from colleagues at work - to think there's a problem.
One thing I would suggest is that if Florida Refuse, the contracted hauler, is not picking up your recycling or is not supplying you with a recycling bin, call Polk County Solid Waste at 863-284-4319.
This will document service problems, which is important information for county officials to have when it comes time to renegotiate the next contract. County officials also have the option to withhold payments in cases where Florida Refuse is not providing the service for which county customers are paying.
Since the county decided to get rid of most of its dropoff recycling centers, recycling has become inconvenient for people in some parts of the county who live in apartment complexes, retirement communities and condominiums, where curbside recycling is unavailable.
I've had one inquiry from some folks in one of the local retirement communities about getting a recycling bin, at least for newspapers.
I wonder whether the county could do some outreach in similar communities to see whether residents are interested and the owners of the communities would allow it.
TIME TO RETHINK DEPOSITS?
I was doing some biological surveying in a local preserve when I ran across some discarded bottles - lots of discarded bottles.
By the time I was done, I had filled several large garbage bags.
Later, when I was sitting in my backyard relaxing with a cold one, I turned the bottle around and something caught my eye. It was the deposit credit the bottle is worth in Michigan, Delaware, Vermont, Hawaii, Oregon and other states.
I wondered whether the kind of bottle cache I had pulled out of the woods would have existed if we had bottle deposits in Florida.
We once had bottle deposits in Florida, but that was before the institution of throwaway packaging. Some public interest groups campaigned pretty regularly about 30 years ago to get deposit legislation in Florida, but the business lobby killed the idea and I hadn't heard much about it for a while.
Recycling wasn't much in vogue here in those days, either, so it wasn't a surprise.
However, the issue is rising again and this time there are additional arguments.
Energy efficiency and global warming are among the arguments that are part of the rationale for a movement calling for a national deposit on plastic bottles, which are made of petrochemicals.
California, Hawaii and Maine already have plastic bottle deposits.
Just to be clear, in today's market, recycling is not some foolish relic from the 1960s.
Plastic is in demand on the world market and an increased stream of recyclables in Florida and elsewhere in the United States will allow existing companies to stay in business and even expand.
In addition, there may be opportunities in recycling for entrepreneurs, such as recent research about the use of recycled glass as a supplement to beach sand.
Next time Gov. Charlie Crist talks to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, perhaps he can ask about the economics of this energy issue.
One group pushing for more deposits and energy savings is the Container Recycling Institute (www.container-recycling.org and www.bottlebill.info), which has an information-packed Web site if you'd like to learn more about this issue.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20070918/COLUMNISTS0503/709180397/1106/NEWS
