Recycling needs to be made easier in Colleton County.
Colleton County leaders and officials within municipalities in the county need to do more to make recycling easier and more accessible for Colleton residents.
In Colleton County, the county council has created recycling convenience sites at area landfills. At these sites, cardboard, plastic and aluminum are recycled. County officials confirm there are also bins for tires and mixed metals that are also recycled.
However, there is no residential recycling program.
In neighboring counties, such as Charleston County, recycling containers for all residential properties is a free service, covered through county taxes. Granted, we understand the population is heavier and the land less rural. Nonetheless, it is an option for residents, no matter where a Charleston County resident lives. In nearby Berkeley County, which is a more rural county, recycling containers are provided at various recycling and trash dump locations. These recycling containers are properly labeled, vetted and the items are recycled and disposed of.
There is no recycling program for residents within the City of Walterboro, as it was terminated several years ago.
With Colleton’s waterways, recycling is especially important. We do not want to negatively impact our rivers, swamps, marshes and ocean. The knowledge is there, about the importance of recycling. The science in how to do it is here. We just need more recycling options for Colleton County residents.
These words also come with the knowledge that Colleton has a trash problem. It seems a small populi of Colletonians don’t particularly care about the quality and aesthetics of our county. These litterbugs are lazy and are selfish. We don’t expect these litterbugs to do anything other than what they do best – cause problems. Nonetheless, there are a large group of people – the majority of us, actually – who do care about our community and who want to recycle and properly dispose of trash and debris.
We want more recyclable products, more recycling bin locations in the county and more convenience for residential recycling containers.
It’s up to the residents to ask for it, and county and city leaders should be more prepared to offer these services.
