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This is why the city wants to move the downtown drop-off site:

Our city recycling drop-off sites are not trash dumps, but some people aren't getting the message.

It's no wonder the city wants to move the site to a "secure" location: people are probably dumping in the middle of the night. That also means, however, residents can't use the drop-off site at any time.

If you see someone pulling this kind of thing, please let us know. Because of the people who do this kind of thing, we may not have recycling sites at all.

Tell City Hall not to move downtown recycling site

Our president Steve Noble read an article in Saturday's paper (I can't find it online) about how the city wants to move the Louis Glick recycling drop-off site to Emmons on Water St. Here's Steve's full letter:

Hi All

Don't know how many of your saw the article in the paper on Saturday but
the city has come out and advised that they are considering moving the
downtown recycling site to Emmons facility on Water Street. This will
greatly limit access and drastically reduce the convenience for our
residents.

I'm sure there is more to this than what was printed but that will only
come out if there is controversy. I will be offering our thoughts about
this at the city commission meeting tomorrow night to hopefully stir up
discussions before the decision is made in August. More than anything
we need residents to call their commissioner to voice an opinion against
this action.

There are several options that could implemented rather than putting the
drop off site in an old industrial section of town with limited access.
One option is to repeal the ordinance that prevents curbside pickup of
trash and recyclables. Also there is a similar location that the city
could use across the street from the current location.

I will be offering our assistance to educate the public about the
benefits of recycling and the effects of midnight dumping.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Steve

Click over to "Contact" to find the phone number to reach Steve on this effort.

Recycling saves businesses money.

A little local news for you: The Saginaw News shows how going green can help business.

"Recycling and reducing waste should prove a no-brainer for business leaders because it impacts the bottom line, Duebbert said," and the article shows how up to one-third of waste comes from businesses, and how recyclable paper makes up the majority of that.

When a company goes green, side benefits include improved employee productivity as well as an improved standing among customers who also believe in recycling. Less waste means less cost for disposal, Duebbert said.

Nice to see a Michigan-based effort to get businesses to care more about waste management.

E-waste: taking responsibility

A thought struck me during our recent e-waste drive on June 21: by recycling, people are taking responsibility for their trash.

I couldn't believe how many CTR monitors (especially Dell monitors) and old TVs that came in. Part of the haul comes from people updating to flat-screen and LCD monitors, but I couldn't help but wonder - if all of these are just coming from Jackson residents, what's happening all over the country?

People loaded these electronic relics into their vehicles, drove them to Sam's Club on a Saturday, and gave us a donation to responsibly recycle them. That's quite a bit of effort, and it happened at least a hundred times on one weekend day.

The same kind of effort goes into everyday recycling. Keeping track of paper, plastic, metal, and glass in your home, seperating it, and taking it to a recycling drop-off site takes work. Recycling isn't for lazy people.

All of that work does a lot of good. And it makes people take responsibility - both in mental effort and in calories burned - for the trash they produce. We take from the earth's supply of natural resources, and instead of tossing it out we reuse it in some other product. We could just bury it. A lot of people do.

Recyclers, however, take a stand and say, "This will not go to waste."

Or at least we say, "We'll take care of it responsibly." Thanks for taking responsibility for your corner of the world. With our successful e-waste drives, it just goes to show that feeling is shared by more and more people.

> Go here for more e-waste drive photos