Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Recycling Important To Everyone

Reducing the waste stream while increasing recycling was the message Denise Potts brought to the Gurdon Rotary Club.

Potts, the recycling coordinator with the Southwest Central Regional Solid Waste District, gave the Rotarians an example of the waste created for one fast-food hamburger. She said 18 cans of garbage are generated to produce a single burger.

The idea, she said, is to reduce the amount of waste going into our landfills by recycling more.

There are several ways of looking at this issue, Potts said. First by reducing waste money can be saved. Cities and counties must pay tipping fees for garbage taken to landfills. For every ton recycled, these entities are able to save money.

In Hot Springs, she said, composting is another method being used to reduce the amount going into landfills. The city and SWCSWD have the equipment to turn some refuse into mulch, with the mulch, in turn, given to the citizens to use around their homes.

In Gurdon, Potts said, someone needs to take on the recycling project, or have someone placed in charge of the recycling effort.

The City of Gurdon has grant money available to purchase a recycling bin, but this has not been done as yet. The city council has not decided what item or items will be recycled and allowed in the bin.

The most common items recycled are paper, cardboard, newsprint, aluminum, clear glass and plastic.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith said the city pays $92.50 per ton to have its trash hauled to the landfill.

At this time, he said, the city is working to get a support group together for the recycling effort. At first, the trailer with the bin will be available a few days per month until the project begins catching on.

Someone will need to be on hand with the trailer to keep people from throwing their garbage in it. One bag of garbage can spoil an entire bin of recyclable materials, especially newsprint.

Potts told the group landfills aren't like old-time city dumps where people would go and throw out what they no longer wanted.

Today's landfills, she said, are complicated, expensive, detailed and heavily regulated. All items taken to landfills are literally buried, with the property kept clean and in good shape.

Potts also talked about using garbage as energy pellets, saying some companies are doing this and much has been done to reduce the emissions from the burning pellets. However, turning garbage into energy and taking it to landfills should be the last resort. People need to reduce the waste stream at the beginning by recycling.

A national effort is underway to get people to buy goods made from recycled items. The price of these goods is dropping and becoming competitive with items made from non-recycled materials.

If the demand for goods made from recycled material is high enough, merchants will be forced to carry them.

One carpet company, she said, wanted to reduce the amount of waste it generated. Its researchers discovered a way the waste could be turned into a backing for the carpet, with continued research finding a way to turn the remaining waste into "stops" for guard rails. The company now has almost no waste at all.

Smith said area residents will be hearing more about landfills in the near future. A public hearing will be held in Gurdon this November about a possible landfill site in the area.

A site for a possible landfill has been found near Gurdon, he said. The SWCRSWD, made up of Clark, Garland and Hot Spring counties, is looking at getting an option on buying the land and having it permitted as a landfill through the Arkansas State Department of Pollution Control and Ecology.

Obtaining a permit, Smith said, will take two or three years, while the landfill may not be built for several years thereafter.

The idea, he told the club members, is to get the land and a permit. When the district's contract with BFI expires in five years, it will have to either renew it or find another landfill to take the garbage. With an option on the land and a permit in hand, Smith said, the district is in a better bargaining position to keep costs down.

Someday, he said, a landfill may have to be built in the area, but it won't be like the old city dump.