RE: the March 24 article "As demand falls, city might stop recycling glass, paper."
Some options raised in this story for reducing losses have more potential than others.
1. Reducing pickup to twice monthly would not necessarily reduce the amount of material recycled. Financial savings relate solely to reduced expenditures on equipment, fuel, and labor.
2. Reducing the number of materials recycled has potential, as long as the most ubiquitous and easy to clean are retained.
3. Community or neighborhood dropoff centers for certain items would work, likely for committed recyclers only. Grocery stores already accept plastic grocery bags and could easily add plastic bottle bins.
4. The real crux of the problem, however, is the lack of a market for recycled materials. Possibilities; Financial incentives to businesses that sell goods in bulk rather than packaged in plastic; efforts to attract industries that can recycle paper and/or plastic; and continued education of the public to encourage less buying of plastics and to update on changes to the market for recyclables.
Juleen Eichinger
Southeast side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
