There's No Excuse To Avoid Recycling

If you are the kind who throws away soda cans, milk jugs, newspapers, magazines, batteries and other recyclable products -- well, then shame on you.

There's no reason or excuse for these items to be disposed of in regular garbage.

They don't belong in landfills but in recycling centers, like the one we have here in Highlands County.

Sure, here in Highlands we don't have the most sophisticated recycling system. We don't get paid money for recycling soda cans. We don't even get cited for mixing all our garbage together and setting it on the curb for pick-up.

But each water bottle, soda can or cardboard pile clogging our landfills is polluting the Earth a little bit more. Why chop another tree to make new office paper when we could have easily recycled a used batch?

Think of the larger picture if you think recycling is some hippy conspiracy. Global warming is being considered is such stark terms these days that in a few decades scientists are predicting worldwide floods and whole species, like polar bears, vanishing.

The fact is that conservation and caring for the environment has never been more relevant than before, and each of us has a part to play.

For those who don't recycle, there's 22 locations where residents can drop off many recyclable items.
The Highlands County Recycling program is also planning to accept recyclable office paper.

Recently, the department added the collection of plastic materials to its services. At some point it may want to consider adding glass.

Thanks to a robust response from the community, the program is on track to process a record tonnage of dropped off items to be recycled.

Our goal should be to post a new record every year.