Posts Tagged ‘Salem SD’

Why is it so tough to recycle in rural communities?

November 25th, 2009

Congratulations Salem!  You are one of the newest communities in South Dakota to participate in and benefit from the RecycleBank recycling program. 

Like most Americans, I understand the importance of recycling, but I’ve not always been as consistent in my recycling efforts as I should be.  After all, it’s usually inconvenient and there’s very little reward for recycling (outside of it is the right thing to do). 

According to this article in the Mitchell Daily Republic, some of these reasons have disappeared in Salem and in fourteen other rural SD communities through the RecycleBank program being offered by Novak Sanitary Services. 

Through the RecycleBank program, residents are (1) able to receive coupons based on the volume of waste they recycle, and (2) don’t have to sort their recyclable material.

When I lived in South Carolina during the early 1990s, my wife and I were regular recyclers, but fell out of the practice after moving back to rural South Dakota.  The reasons for this backslide were simple: there was no organized recycling in the town where I lived; and no one else collected any waste other than aluminum cans.

The Daily Republic article has me thinking:  How many rural communities in South Dakota offer recycling?  The article identifies fourteen additional small towns using the RecycleBank program, but I wonder how many others are recycling through other programs? 

And if rural communities are not offering recycling services, why not?  Why is it so difficult to offer recycling in a small town? 

 

Photo credit:  sparkle lavalamp - Flickr

 

 

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Posted in In the News, Rural | Comments (2)