Dear Editor,

Made a trip up to the South Canyon landfill today to drop-off some recycling. As usual, the container was filled to the brim, and while I was there, three more people showed up with still more stuff. As we unloaded, one guy says to me, “It’s getting harder and harder to recycle these days”.

I’d been thinking that very same thought, and I wondered, why is that? There seems to be plenty of interest – lots of us are willing to drive all the way to the dump to do our part.

Recently, the PI reported on a Glenwood Springs city council meeting where the issue of a recycling center was discussed. One option being considered was developing a drop-off center at Highway 82 and 23rd Street. It was opposed on the fears of it being a potential eyesore. Would someone please explain how a carefully operated recycling center is considered an eyesore and an abandoned gas station is not?

While it’s not fair for the city to bear the burden for the whole region, it makes sense to have some sort of program in place here as most everybody passes through town on their way to one place or another. Pitkin County and the Town of Basalt have excellent programs in place, and there’s no reason we can’t have something similar here.

I spoke with someone in the local recycling scene about this and she was pretty sure that the city of Glenwood Springs has funding in place for just such a program. Apparently, there was also a plan to include a recycling center in the MOC development – what became of that? Why is this such a scary issue?

If you care about conserving our natural resources, please encourage our elected officials to get off their butts and help us open and support a valleywide recycling program. It’s not that hard, and it’s the right thing to do.

Trying to do the right thing,

Bob Utesch

Dry Hollow