CAPE SEEKS NEW RECYCLING GRANT

While participation in Cape Girardeau's recycling program is growing, other cities in Southeast Missouri are trying to get their programs started.

Cape Girardeau has operated a citywide recycling program since 1991. After a hiatus, Scott City's recycling program is available again, but on a limited basis.

Both cities have used grants to help fund their programs. Scott City received a $39,000 grant to start its original program in 1996. Cape Girardeau has used grants in the past for equipment purchases and hopes another grant will help pay for a new project.

The city is applying for a grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to help build a new public drop-off recycling building at 120 N. Broadview.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the city collected 3,526,549 pounds of recyclable material. About 30,000 pounds of recyclable goods are collected at the drop-off site each week.

The cost for the new drop-off facility is estimated at $100,000. The grant request is for $80,000, with the city paying the remaining $20,000.

The proposed clear-span building would be open on the west side so residents using the drop-off service could drive up to the recycling bins and separate their materials. The entire area would be fenced.

Currently the recycling center drop-off area is shared with the city's public works and water departments. City vehicles are constantly driving into the area. Building a separate recycling area would cut down on congestion, said Pam Sander, solid waste coordinator.

"It will be a safer environment," she said.

The city's recycling program has been a success since it began in 1991. Participation has grown each year, and 19,880 tons of trash have been diverted from landfills in eight years.

It wasn't difficult to get people involved in the recycling program, Sander said. When the city implemented a two-container limit on trash pickup, it was easy to get people interested in recycling. The program saves them money. A $1 fee is charged for every container over the city's limit.

"People who weren't interested before made the effort," Sander said.

But in Scott City, there have been other hurdles to getting a recycling program started.

Scott City had a recycling program last year until residents learned the recyclable material was actually being dumped in the landfill. The City Council suspended the program indefinitely last March.

Almost a year later, the city is trying to spark interest again. A recycling bin, which only accepts cardboard, sits on a parking lot along Main Street.

"We are slowly but surely building it back," said Erika Glock, city administrator. "We've had good response and made at least one bale."

The grant funding for Scott City's project came from a Missouri Senate bill designed to reduce the state's solid waste by 40 percent and boost recycling.

The bill suggested a goal for waste reduction, with a target date of January 1998.

Cities were expected to work toward the goal without a mandate, Sander said. Recycling programs aren't found in every city because the ventures are often costly.

Recycling isn't a moneymaking business. "It's very difficult, especially if you are trying to make money at it," Sander said.

Often the market is saturated. Corrugated cardboard, which sold for nearly $200 a ton just a few years ago is now worth nothing, she said. "The same is true with plastic. The demand isn't there."

People have to realize that separating plastic or newspaper or steel cans for recycling isn't the end of the process. They have to buy recycled goods for the effort to be effective, Sander said.

"We have to work on buying recycled," she said. "People think if they put it in a bin it's finished, but it isn't. You have to make a demand for the product."