How can I convince our town board that recycling is the right thing to do?

Question

I'm involved in the main street association in my small town and we are trying to write a grant proposal to reinstate our recycling program. The town board president says that even if we get the grant, he will not allow it in our town because we did not get his permission to do a survey. How can I convince him to get off his power trip and realize that recycling is the right thing to do?

Answer 1

money.

our small town recycler pays our town  $1m  or so i was told, to get our recycle.

they make their money back on the aluminum cans.

if that doesn't get their attention, i doubt there's much hope.

Answer 2

Some ammo: there's a City in SOUTHERN Italy called Naples where unless some proper recycling is done before this summer they'll get cholera, TBC and tons more nasty stuff.

More ammo, there's a City in northern Italy called Brescia where residents don't pay for hot water as it comes from a power plant powered solely from recycled waste, they also make a profit from their rubbish...  

Which ones does your town board president want to follow?

Answer 3

Get as many of the town behind you and get him out voted. Recycling can be rather expensive if not run properly and maybe that's why he's not interested in getting it going again. Recycling is all well and good but if it costs more than the returns, who needs it. At the end of the day , if there is a cost the ratepayer foots the bill.

Answer 4

If you don't know how to explain why it's the right thing, maybe you have not yet objectively evaluated the pros and cons yet.

If you can determine that some kind of recycling program is, in fact, worth pursuing, then you need to determine who benefits and who is hurt by it.

For example, suppose your town's landfill use is paid for from a general county fund, but your town would have to pay for curbside recycling collection, then the town residents are hurt but the county benefits.

Garbage companies often get paid by how much waste they collect also, so they will be hurt by almost anything you do.  You can try an angle where they participate in operating the recycling program, so they will get a cut; except they typically end up sabotaging the recycling program.   Hiring another company to handle the recycling collection ensures that they will be motivated to get the highest possible benefit (and thus, returns) for the recycled goods; but by having two companies duplicating each others' collection efforts, you might completely undo the benefits (both environmental and financial) of recycling.

Just considering the bottom line, recycling industrial waste outweighs the benefits of recycling consumer goods by a far margin, so you might want to focus your efforts on encouraging recyclers to purchase the industrial waste generated in your town.  The garbage collectors--who already have relationships with the officials in your town--will fight hard against this, but if you can accomplish it, then you might be able to ratchet up to collecting the lesser-valued consumer waste.

If bottom line doesn't have much sway, then focusing on consumer recycling might be a better approach because it is more visible to voters and you might get more press on your side.

Either way, I think you have to have some statistics on your side to support your case.

Good luck!

Answer 5

tell them you will all get together and call a private recycler that will pick it up for free with no govrnment grant.they can't stop you from doing legal things like recycling on your own. don't depend on govn't for everything in your life. it will only make things harder in your lives!

Answer 6

Yeah, it's a shame when someone's ego is your biggest obstacle - but that's politics.  I was on our town's recycling committee when we expanded our curbside pick-up program, and it too required some research and a survey.  Although we had paper and corrugated picked up, we were required to bring plastics to a school every 3 weeks.  Heaven help you if you missed that drop-off date; you could be sitting on a mountain of plastic in your garage for another 3 weeks.  That's what motivated me to get onto the committee and do something about it.  

With the revived "green" movement, post-consumer content is heavily sought after by the manufacturers because - as you likely know - it's the PC content that REALLY attests to a product's recycled value; and consumers are getting wiser to that.  There are even mops that are made with recycled soda bottles and entrance mats that are made from recycled soda bottles (fabric) and recycled tires (backing).  This stuff is big with schools, as well as with businesses and building owners that are shooting for LEED certification (basically, tax credits for environmental efficiency).  Therefore, our recyclable trash now has even more value to the curbside collectors.

Build a case to present to your town board president with a "WIIFM" - What's In It For Me" (or "him," rather).  Ask him what it would take to get his blessing on a survey.  Talk to some waste collectors as to how much they'd charge - or pay for separated recyclables.  You'll also need a way to manage the distribution of recycling bins and/or "pay-per-throw" trash bags.  Part of his job is to stretch the town's buck, so find a way to help him look good.

Sorry for being so winded.  Hopefully this helps.

Answer 7

I just moved to Natchitoches and have talked to the mayor about recycling every time I see him. He asked for suggestions on how to make it work. My answer is either a "reward" or a "penalty" and then people will do it. Evidently it failed in the pas. Maybe you didn't give it enough time. I do not know any details. Landfills are filling up and the city could actually save money by recycling. You could just pick up trash one day a week and the recycled things on the other day. I cannot believe it is not mandatory everywhere in the US!

Thanks for letting me vent.

Answer 8

Only if U can make it profitable. If it cost money U will never make it work.

Answer 9

Get a petition going, if you can get people to sign it, that should really help.  After all they are the voters and he should be doing what the voters want.

Answer 10

make sheets of recycled paper and say go recyle like i did to help trees groow with these 100% recycled paper

Answer 11

Children of all ages see recycling on TV,  start with them, must children today know how to get what they want from their parents. For you next several meetings have the children of your community do recycling project and present them to the board. Duplicate  all items used in the recycle project and have the children dump them on the floor before they start their speech about why recycling is so important to them and the community.  Now you have families involved.  People don't like change so it will be a challenge to start. Be strong don't back down.