Packed House at City Hall to Discuss Recycling

(A BIG CROWD JAMMED THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT CITY HALL WEDNESDAY FOR A TOWN HALL MEETING ON THE ISSUE OF RECYCLING)

The vast majority of those in attendance at City Hall Wednesday evening supported starting a recycling program in Effingham, although there were differing ideas on how to make that happen. Mayor Jeff Bloemker called the Town Hall meeting to get input from a variety of citizens.

Many residents who have moved into Effingham from other communities said that this is the only city where they've lived that doesn't have recycling.

As to ideas for how to get the ball rolling, making recycling a community effort was a constant theme as well as education on how to properly sort and recycle. Working together as a community to help sort and follow guidelines was seen as a cost saving idea.

There was a suggestion that drop-off bins could be located throughout the city in an effort to cut down on transportation costs. Others shared about how recycling has worked in other communities such as Mattoon, Charleston, Teutopolis, Champaign and others. There was support voiced for having yard waste and leaves recycled, as well.

Some present voiced support for starting a recycling committee, and a piece of paper was passed through the big crowd for people to sign up to help network now that the meeting has been held.

Mayor Bloemker was pleased afterwards with the response and the comments he heard. The mayor said the comments shared were taken down by City staff and would be posted on the Mayor's blog on the City website. He said citizens can go there to continue discussion on the topic.

There were a couple of citizens who said they were opposed to their taxes going up to finance recycling, but liked the idea of recycling.

The Mayor said the expense of such a program will be among the items to be decided; whether to consider increasing revenues to help finance recycling, or re-directing existing revenues, which would mean less funding for other projects.

Several of those we spoke with after the session were pleased with the tone of the meeting, which, they say, bodes well for reaching some consensus on the issue.

(THANKS TO ZAK DIETZEN FOR HIS WORK ON THIS STORY)