Environmental City? We'll see...

I was wondering what it would take to scare Billy Blades of Worst Mayor Ever back out of the shadows. It turns out that the mayor's attempt to fill the landfill with recyclables was just the ticket.

Recyled Leadership
I don't want to say 'I told you so,' but WTF, it's kinda the point of this blog. Does anyone out there, especially the three of you who actually bother to vote, remember Ron Littlefield during the Mayoral debates and, well, just about anytime he gets a chance to pat himself on the back, bragging about his leadership and ingenuity in solid waste issues and recycling programs? Anyone? So, now that he's just bailing out on our curbside recycling program without trying the very first initiative to revive and expand the program, nothing on the City Web site, no PSA's on local TV and radio--nada, responsible citizens are apoplectic. So allow me this pleasure: I Told You...oh, never mind.

His action is inexcusible. And, by the way, it justifies every single word and image on this website. Not that it needed any, I'm just saying...

[...]

Ending recycling in Chattanooga is the Worst. Idea. Ever.

Of course, an idea that irresponsible could only come from a hypocrite like Ron Littlefield: Worst. Mayor. Ever.

For more on this controversy, go here or here. Also, note that in yesterday's paper, both editorial pages spoke out in favor of keeping our curbside recycling program (how often do both sides of our paper agree?!?):

Free Press Editorial: Keep Chattanooga recycling

While participation in curbside recycling of waste materials in Chattanooga has been less widely engaged in by our citizens than we would like, and while the operation is rather expensive when there is not wide participation, it would be a serious mistake for the city to give up its recycling efforts.

Recycling, particularly of large volumes of paper, is important for conservation purposes and to avoid unnecessarily filling up limited landfill capacity. Our problem is not that recycling is a bad idea but that it is not engaged in by enough of our people.

What we need is not abandonment of recycling, but a concerted effort to get much more citywide participation.

Ordinary garbage collection is a necessary but costly operation. That is part of what we pay city taxes to provide. Increased recycling is almost as important. We need to be increasing it.

The need for tight budgeting by our city officials is understandable and applauded. But community efforts to recycle waste materials, especially paper, should be expanded, not abandoned.

Times Editorial: Continue curbside recycling

Chattanooga's curbside recycling program is in trouble. Citywide participation rates are miserably low. But the answer is to fix the problem, not to trash the program.

Mayor Ron Littlefield proposes to end curbside pickup in the new budget year and replace it with more drop-off centers, where citizens can take their plastic, aluminum, paper and glass. That would be a big step backward.

In an interview with this page on Monday, however, Mr. Littlefield suggested he has not written off curbside recycling altogether. "We're looking at experimental options," he said. That being the case, the budget provision that would eliminate the existing program should be stricken, and the search for innovative solutions to the curbside recycling dilemma should be broadened to include the whole community.

The mayor observed that Chattanooga's program is dependent on "decades-old technology" and said solutions might come in the form of more innovative truck designs, recycling bins that would keep materials clean and dry or other changes in the way the city picks up recyclables. It will take that kind of broad evaluation of options to build a sustainable recycling program. Also necessary will be a sustained public campaign to encourage participation, and financial incentives for participation should be considered as well.

In any case, Mr. Littlefield's responses were encouraging evidence that there is still plenty of opportunity for the full community discussion this important environmental issue deserves.

That discussion should begin in earnest today at the City Council's public works committee meeting at 4 p.m. and the full council meeting at 6 p.m. This will be council members' first opportunity to discuss formally the mayor's proposal to stop curbside pickup and fall back on drop-off centers. We encourage the council to keep the issue open by adopting a city budget that neither requires nor allows elimination of the curbside program.

Ending the program is too sudden and drastic a response to the problem. As Councilwoman Linda Bennett told us, "I think it's important enough that I wish we'd give it some more time and attention, and have more community discussion of how we should do it."

The vital first step is to ensure that the program keeps running while solutions are sought. Once abandoned, the difficulty of getting the program restarted would be immense.

Second, city government should tap this community's traditional willingness to help design successful approaches to civic challenges. A citizens task force which includes dedicated recyclers, representatives of neighborhoods with low participation in the past, and experts in all related areas, both in and out of government, could perform a valuable service. The mayor says he wants time for "experimenting with different possibilities," and such a task force would be a worthy partner in that.

Mr. Littlefield has long been a proponent of recycling and is rightly proud of the city's success in several large programs, including diversion of brush and sewage sludge from the landfill. But a successful residential recycling program is also very important, not only to save energy and landfill space but to build a grass-roots environmental ethic in Chattanooga. It's time for the mayor, the City Council and the community to come together and build that successful program.