Letter to the Editor

Schools could save money with recycling

Thursday, August 29, 2013

To the editor:

According to the Courier News article dated Aug. 27 by Mark Brasfield, reporting on what Councilwoman Missy Langston said about the sanitation rate hike and that the

Blytheville School District will be most affected. Currently, the school district pays about $15,000 a month for pickup, and that it would increase by at least another $1,000, making it around $16,000 a month.

Whatever happened to "teaching the students how to recycle"? Instead of the EASY way out of just throwing everything in the dumpster behind the school, for trash pickup, (16 grand a month).

Why can't there be a special class at each school that teaches the students and staff alike to recycle all their wasted trash each day?

-- A 55-gallon barrel outside for food items to be composted for farmers or whomever wants to pick it up for their own use, each month, instead of throwing it in the $16,000 a month dumpster.

-- All paper products could be placed in another container for compacting and sold to a recycler to come pick it up.

-- All glass and metal materials can be placed in a separate container to be

driven to the dump by the school maintenance person each day for a small charge.

Right now, the Blytheville School District is not setting a good example to their students on how to save money and recycle. But instead, they are teaching them to throw their trash in the garbage and pay the trash person, each month, and in this case, $16,000 per month!

The Blytheville School District needs to set a statewide, if not, worldwide recycle program run by their students, and start making money instead of paying out money each month for pickup, and in this case paying out over $15,000 per month! What a waste, and Councilwoman Missy Langston, who chairs the Health and Sanitation Committee, should know better. But yet, she approved the rate hike. "Shame on her!"

Teachers, teach your students to recycle, Don't throw everything in the dumpster for a $15,000 a month trash pickup. Instead, your school

should profit off your trash.

William Pereszlay
Blytheville

EDITOR'S NOTE: According to Blytheville Superintendent Richard Atwill, while the school district does not have a systematic, organized recycling program, there are pockets of groups within the district who are actively recycling. He said the district has considered programs in the past, and that eventually, he hopes to see a district recycling program that is student-focused and student-driven.