Recycling to come back?
From the TP:
Either way, Swacker said, the population is large enough to make residential recycling in the New Orleans area possible again.“The markets are there. The markets are very healthy. It’s just a question of building from the ground up that whole line of business,” Swacker said. “We’re very anxious to get it back up.”
…
The commission sees three possibilities for a regional approach to recycling, said Kara Mattini Renne, a planner at the commission. The first would be to hire a contractor to pick up and later sell the materials, therefore defraying the cost for taxpayers. A slightly more expensive approach for residents would be to hire a collector who would share the revenue from the sale of recyclable items with the governments. The third option would be to award two contracts, one for a hauler and another for a processing company, in a manner similar to Jefferson’s contracts with collector Waste Management and processor Allied Waste before the storm.
I’ve been waiting for this, as it’s a sign to me of recovery and improved quality of life. Certainly no one could fault them for not dealing with this until the major waste issues caused by Katrina were dealt with, but maybe it’s time? Phoenix Recycling, the people we pay $15/month to occasionally pick up our stuff, would be interested in being a contractor, but as a contractor, they’d probably want more volume. One good way to generate volume would be to make it mandatory, and this wouldn’t be that big of a burden, because you’d only have to have a separate container for everything plastic or glass. It’d reduce the burden on the landfills, too, which could only be a good thing now.
Tags: recycling