As I noted in my column Friday, while Sedgwick County commissioners have all but thrown in the towel on true communitywide curbside recycling, Newton, Bel Aire and other Kansas towns are proving just how doable recycling is — in Newton’s case, it is approaching 100 percent compliance and diverting one-quarter of its trash stream (a figure that, once upon a time, was the goal of Sedgwick County’s recycling program).
The difference? Leadership. Sedgwick County commissioners haven’t walked their talk on recycling, instead kicking the can down the road.
Funny how Wichita wants to promote itself as a modern, progressive city but can’t put together a credible recycling program, as thousands of communities across the nation have successfully done.
And we wonder why some newcomers see us as backward.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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12 Comments
This is a good chance to thank MARGARET and PAUL MILLER and members of the Sedgwick County Waste Control and Recycling Coalition for their long time dedication to promoting recycling in the Sedgwick County region. But their efforts need a lot more support.
Read your own paper Randy. People veiw us as backwards because of the decisions of the politicians and their hacks.
I would be happy to recycle if I knew that I could set everything out on trash day and have it all picked up.
On a recent trip to Michigan, I was very impressed with how well people recycle up there.
With the problems we have with trash in this county, you would think that we would try harder in the recycling realm.
A good program to watch on recycling is Penn & Teller’s B/S.
It’s pretty good!
I agree I like Penn&Teller too, the shows that debunk goofy new age sfuff or religon in general.But the fact is for the most part recycling dont help the enivorment any in fact it uses more enery to recyle than it does to make stuff from scratch esp. plastics and paper. Only a few items are worth recycling Metals, like alumiumin or glass bottles, thats why you get paid for them.
Well either Penn or Teller is an unabashed right wing Republican. I forget which one talks, as frankly I find their act boring. The fat dark haired guy is the Republican. As the other guy does not speak he is likely GOP as well.
Recycling material does in many cases cost more than raw manufacture. This is due to infrastructure. We are geared to a make and toss mentality.
Might it not be wiser to adjust that infrastructure? You know, instead of waiting for emplaced infrastructure to become inviable alon with raw resource?
Acually Penn&Teller are Hedonist, Atheist, Liberatarians. Liberatarians arent really Right or Left wing but out in there own little part of the political spectrum.
As long as the City and the County move towards building a dump, there will be no recycling. Why? Tonnage is needed to make a dump profitable. If recycling was mandated, tonnage would be reduced.
It is a sad set of circumstances, but just follow the money on why Wichita/Sedgwick County has no curbside recycling program.
J R,Actually, we are becoming more dependant on recycled material. The industry I am currently in uses recycled plastic (all we can get), and sawdust, again all we can get. There are more and more companies using recycled material and I assume the number will keep growing. There is major money in it.
For example, in Carthage, MO, a company has opened a recycling plant that turns turkey and chicken waste (Fat, offal, etc.) into energy. When they first opened, the smell caused the state to close them. They have since installed scrubbers and odor control, and you wouldn’t know they were in business again. Turkey and chicken ranching is major business in this part of the contry. You should see the chicken drives going up 60 from Seneca to Springfield. Feathers everywhere!
If the city had any brains, they would jump on the band wagon and get involved. I don’t see it happening any time soon. The down side (actually two) is loss of revenue from business buying recycled products, and loss of business which will locate elsewhere to take advantage of local supplies of products.
The city dump as practiced by Wichita is a dinasour.
To PeytonJ: Maybe you know something the rest of us don’t. As far as I know, neither the Sedgwick county commissioners nor the Wichita City Council plan to build a landfill anywhere in Sedgwick County. The Furley site was purchased for the purpose a number of years ago because its soil composition and drainage characteristics were considered optimum for that purpose.
But recently, a new landfill was built in Harper County just southwest of Wichita. So now Harper County and the trash company reap the financial rewards for handling Wichita’s trash and incidentally trash from Oklahoma and maybe even New York City!!
Shortly after the Harper County landfill opened a few months ago, the vaunted vinyl liner was punctured by dynamite in some 60 spots. Since then, these punctures have supposedly been scotch-taped over and covered with dirt.
Drainage and seepage from the Harper County landfill will run into the formerly unspoiled, always running Chikaskia River. This wild river springs out of the ground near the legendary tiny Catholic hamlet of St. Leo, Kansas, hidden in a valley somewhere south of Cunningham, Kansas.
The Chikaskia River in turn leads to the Arkansas River which serves ?? Tulsa and other downstream cities.
The best answer is to proceed full-speed ahead with re-cyling trash in Sedgwick County and sell what’s possible to obtain some reward for the County’s trash.
“Well either Penn or Teller is an unabashed right wing Republican. I forget which one talks, as frankly I find their act boring. The fat dark haired guy is the Republican. As the other guy does not speak he is likely GOP as well.”
JR, I know this is hard to grasp for knee-jerk idealogues like you and PL, but just because someone doesn’t advocate your viewpoint doesn’t mean they have a political agenda.
Thanks the post JM.Good to know that there is actually folk with common sense as to recycling.
I think a lot of the problem in Wichita is the fractious nature of waste disposal. We got 3 or so major corps and maybe 2 dozen small haulers. And they all want to defend their turf.
This is coupled with the general laziness of people in Wichita.
A good plan might beto francise the trash routes with weight given to those who best do recycling. The corps have the means…..they just don’ t want to pay for it. The little guys do not have the means. But as Miller recycling has demonstrated it can be done.