If it came to a vote, my guess is Allen County citizens would overwhelmingly support the county assuming responsibility for a recycling program.
A county-wide program makes the most sense because it affords an economy of scale, reducing the risk of wasted manpower, machinery and resources if left up to individual cities.
The county landfill is overflowing.
“I’ve had phone call after phone call about all the trash,” surrounding the landfill, said Commissioner David Lee at the April 12 commission meeting.
To address the problem, another cell is being dug for $2.3 million. Completion date is the early part of 2024.
In the meantime, commissioners temporarily addressed the problem by ordering employees across several departments — the airport, noxious weeds, road and bridge — to join landfill crews to pick up trash along roadsides. They’re also investigating ordering a higher fence to keep the trash from escaping.
The first bid for a 45-foot net and pole setup was more than $1 million, which commissioners did not act on.
Other solutions proposed include building a 15-foot dirt berm; prohibiting dumping on windy days; buying more equipment such as vacuums to suck up the trash and seeing if picking up trash could be an option for court-ordered community service.
Forgive my skepticism, but wouldn’t the money required for the bulk of these suggestions be better spent on reducing the amount of trash being hauled to the landfill in the first place?
Environmentalists say about 75 percent of all waste is recyclable. If we attempted to recycle even half that amount it would extend the lifetime of our landfill by years.
The local volunteer recycling effort has been an outstanding success, proving that citizens care about reusing cardboard, plastics, paper and glass.
Unfortunately, relying on volunteers also means the enthusiasm ebbs and flows and can compromise its organization. Recent presentations before the commission hint the current crew is tired of carrying the burden — a most understandable sentiment — and requested the county to help.
Commissioners should recognize that taxpayers want this program and see it through.
