November 3, 2018 at 3:26 a.m.
Recycling grant should be returned
Editorial
Did we read that correctly?
Yes, sometimes even we are surprised by our own reporting.
That was the case with Monday’s story about the end of curbside recycling in Portland.
Rose Skelly reported that the City of Portland has a surplus in its recycling account thanks almost entirely to an annual grant it had been receiving from Jay County Solid Waste Management District.
What does the city plan to do with that money? Well, no decisions have been finalized, but, according to Mayor Randy Geesaman, one of the options is to use it to subsidize trash pick-up.
To us, that seems improper.
Jay County Solid Waste Management District’s main purpose is to work to keep trash out of Jay County Landfill by promoting the “reduce, reuse, recycle” motto. Much of its focus is on recycling, thus the grant to the city to help with the curbside program.
For its own grant money to be used to help send trash to the landfill would be unconscionable.
Beyond that, it would seem unethical for Portland to use that money for anything other than its intended purpose — curbside recycling.
Given that curbside recycling has been discontinued in Portland, we believe the grant money should be returned to Jay County Solid Waste Management District.
The district board, which had to slash its 2019 budget drastically, could then put it to action for its intended purpose. It could be used for the district’s teacher grant program that promotes recycling-related projects in schools, its annual Tox Away Day or to pay for the recycling trailers that now presumably will be handling the items that are no longer being taken by Portland’s curbside program.
The good thing, as we pointed out earlier, is that no decisions have been finalized.
So, what now?
We encourage Portland Board of Works, which is scheduled to meet Thursday, to reject the option of using the surplus in its recycling account to support trash pick-up. We further encourageboard of works members Bill Gibson, Jerry Leonhard and Geesaman to vote to return grant funds to Jay County Solid Waste Management District.
We understand that the cost of trash pick-up is rising and that the city needs to find additional revenue to cover those bills. But the recycling fund is the wrong place to look.
The recycling fund money should be used for just that — recycling. — R.C.
Yes, sometimes even we are surprised by our own reporting.
That was the case with Monday’s story about the end of curbside recycling in Portland.
Rose Skelly reported that the City of Portland has a surplus in its recycling account thanks almost entirely to an annual grant it had been receiving from Jay County Solid Waste Management District.
What does the city plan to do with that money? Well, no decisions have been finalized, but, according to Mayor Randy Geesaman, one of the options is to use it to subsidize trash pick-up.
To us, that seems improper.
Jay County Solid Waste Management District’s main purpose is to work to keep trash out of Jay County Landfill by promoting the “reduce, reuse, recycle” motto. Much of its focus is on recycling, thus the grant to the city to help with the curbside program.
For its own grant money to be used to help send trash to the landfill would be unconscionable.
Beyond that, it would seem unethical for Portland to use that money for anything other than its intended purpose — curbside recycling.
Given that curbside recycling has been discontinued in Portland, we believe the grant money should be returned to Jay County Solid Waste Management District.
The district board, which had to slash its 2019 budget drastically, could then put it to action for its intended purpose. It could be used for the district’s teacher grant program that promotes recycling-related projects in schools, its annual Tox Away Day or to pay for the recycling trailers that now presumably will be handling the items that are no longer being taken by Portland’s curbside program.
The good thing, as we pointed out earlier, is that no decisions have been finalized.
So, what now?
We encourage Portland Board of Works, which is scheduled to meet Thursday, to reject the option of using the surplus in its recycling account to support trash pick-up. We further encourage
We understand that the cost of trash pick-up is rising and that the city needs to find additional revenue to cover those bills. But the recycling fund is the wrong place to look.
The recycling fund money should be used for just that — recycling. — R.C.
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