On environmental advocacy: Thoughts for the new governor

Well, at least with oil at 50% of its highest levels, the price at the pump should be a little lower for a while. It will be interesting to see if all the calls for drilling offshore continue, and to what extent. (The answer is that they should - the problem has not gone away).

Many of my entries dealing with state-based proposals have some environmental overtones to them (solar panels on houses, economic plan, gas surcharge speeding tax, etc.). I will discuss another macro idea briefly: recycling.

Now, recycling itself is not a very worthwhile endeavor. While in Delaware, you have to pay into the recycling program, in Pennsylvania and other states, you do not. Cost deterrent aside, that is only one factor that may act more as a stick than a carrot. The more significant one is simple numbers: no matter how much we recycle in this State, or in any of the other 49 for that matter, there are countries whose recycling policies are decades from any we have developed, and their actions certainly offset any of ours. Rationally, the response to this argument would be to say that there is rationally no reason to recycle (a glorified "why bother" excuse). I say to act irrationally on this one: the point is for us to set an example for the rest of the world to follow and if it changes international perception even a fraction, that would be significant. (After all, it's the effort that accounts for more than the immediate result sometimes).

If the State of Delaware is serious about setting about recycling goals and encouraging the practice, the current efforts to simple merge all recycling bins to force the workers themselves to sort them falls a bit short.

Here is one solution. Cities in parts of the midwest have two trashcans covering their sidewalk corners - one for trash and one for bottles/newspaper. Granted, there is probably a lot of mixing of the two, but at least these cities are attempting to give people a choice to recycle or not.

Similarly, in at least two western/midwestern international airports, they also employ a similar recycling strategy. There were regular waste bins and recycling bins within a few feet of each other. Just like in the cities, and even more so because of what you are limited to buy food-wise and drink-wise in an airport, this sort of effort makes perfect sense. Of course, Philadelphia International had no such program, but the fact they did not was decidedly noticeable, which brings me to my point.

This sort of strategy can translate over here to Delaware just as easily and at a minimal cost to the state. In the cities (and particularly at the beach), the dual trashcan system, once implemented, would have the same effect as the current Delaware recycling plan that does not require individual sorting. Except that instead of having to travel to the outskirts of the cities or wherever to find these bins, simple recycling of a water bottle can be thrown out as you are walking to your next destination. This pilot could start at the beach where bottled water constitutes half the liquid economy down there.

Would it work? I think it depends on how one defines the end goal. But from a fiscal perspective, the price tag is quite nominal all things considered. At the very least, some people, given the choice, would put their recycled goods in the recycle bins. My guess is that the value of "some" would actually be "a lot." Something to think about.

Tags: ideas for recycling