Recycling is for everyone: Site open to out-of-towners

By Micah Gamino

Published: August 30, 2008

EDMOND — Don Harrison and his wife, Bertha, stop by the Edmond recycling center once a month when they are in town. The Harrisons live in Logan County, but they make use of the recycling center at 20 W Third St. in Edmond one Saturday a month while visiting family members who live in Edmond's city limits.

"It's a good deal they have this,” Don Harrison said. "It keeps people from filling up the landfills.”

The Harrisons said they are just happy to find a place to take their plastic, paper and cardboard. They don't have the luxury of curbside recycling service, something Edmond residents have had available for years.

So why does Edmond have a recycling center if it has curbside recycling?

"We're trying to close the loop in providing people a way to recycle who don't have curbside service,” said Sam McNeiland, Edmond's solid waste superintendent.

McNeiland said Edmond residents who live in multi- family housing are the only people without the service.

He also knows of the center's popularity with recyclers living outside the city. "I would say there's more from outside the city limits than there are from within that use it,” McNeiland said.

"Edmond taxpayer funds are used for the center, but we make no attempt to restrict people from coming there.”

Carl and Sandy Rode of Guthrie have come to the center every month for the past eight years. But they are among the volunteers with Edmond Beautiful Inc. who supervise the center. Volunteers make sure the recyclables are put in the correct bins.

The Rodes say the center needs more volunteers.

"This is the busiest year I've seen,” Carl Rode said while taking a short break from his work at the outdoor center on a recent Saturday.

"We can always use more volunteers,” he added. "One, it cuts down on how often you have to do it — because two hours especially in the hot sun or cold winter, it gets to be a bit much.”

McNeiland said more volunteers would help.

"It would be excellent if there was more volunteerism and that center could be expanded,” he said.

Sandy Rode said the recycling center is a very busy place on Saturdays — the only day it's open each week.

Still, she says she thinks recycling should be required of everyone.

"I think we should force recycling,” Sandy Rode said.

"The reason is, people just throw stuff away thinking someone else will take care of it. And if you've ever flown overhead and looked at the landfill, that's the only mountain in Oklahoma.”

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