I’ve read articles stating that if each person that drank water from a bottle threw them into the trash, there would be enough to circle the earth.  I know that you can buy reusable water bottles with and without filters and not buy bottled water, but my family drinks more water if it is in a cold bottle in the frig.  So I buy bottled water.  But I recycle the water bottles; I don’t throw them into the regular trash even if it is getting harder and harder to recycle in my town.

A few years ago my hometown quit picking up recycling along with the trash.  If you wanted to recycle you had to take it to a central location yourself.  It wasn’t convenient, but we thought it was important so we did it.

Oklahoma weather took care of Enid’s first recycling plant with a small tornado.  So, Enid secured another area and staffed it with workers and bins.  My husband and I took the recycling that was stacking up in the garage on Saturday mornings to the recycling center.  It seemed to be a meeting place where you ran into old friends and it had a certain amount of social value as well as civic responsibility.

Lately the recycling plant has disappeared again.  No we haven’t had another tornado, but the city planned to move the site to another location.  Before they could get set up, they lost the lease.  I understand it is tied up in litigation at present.  So, if you want to recycle in Enid you must take it to the city dump and there is a location outside where you can leave it.

The city dump is notorious for nails and things that take out perfectly good tires, so we only go there if we absolutely have to.  My husband works at the Air Force base south of town and we are now using their recycling bins.  But, if you don’t have access to the base, you can’t use it.  The dump is the only option in Enid for free.  However, some enterprising individuals have come up with a curbside recycling called Keepin’ Enid Green  http://keepinenidgreen.com/ and you can pay to have your recyclables picked up each week for about $120.00 per year (which is less expensive than a new tire).  Necessity is the mother of invention and Enid had the need.

I understand that recycling does not have to be convenient but, some people cannot recycle in this town anymore.  There are people that don’t have access to a place to bring take recyclables or money to pay someone else to do it.  More thought needs to be put in to this problem if we are going to alleviate the growing trash problems on our planet.  We need a new plan – what do you think, any ideas?