Saturday collection nets almost 8,000 pounds of paper products

For Karen Sanders of the Fayette County Soil & Water Conservation District, Saturday’s collection for paper and cardboard was affirmation that Vandalia area residents are interested in recycling programs.

That three-hour collection drive netted 7,860 pounds of newspaper, cardboard and other types of paper.

“We had people waiting first-thing in the morning, and it was pretty much steady all morning long,” said Sanders, who has done much of the leg work in setting up this and other recycling drives that have been held in recent months.

Sanders learned Wednesday morning of the total from Saturday’s drive from Debbie Kendrick of Kendrick Paper in Mt. Vernon.

“She told me that we saved right at 68 trees,” Sanders said.

Sanders is part of the committee that has been meeting in recent months to set up local recycling drives. Other participants include the Fayette County Extension Office staff, Mary Fulton, Renee Willms and John Sanders.

While the committee has not set up another drive for paper and cardboard, there is a possibility of that happening.

However, the committee has initiated steps to implement an ongoing recycling program for such products.

In addition to picking up and hauling away the paper products on Saturday free of charge, Kendrick left with the committee boxes that can be set up locally.

The committee is working with Vandalia officials on establishing a site for the collection boxes.

“Hopefully, we can get them set up somewhere that’s very visible,” Sanders said.

That visibility will not only increase awareness of the program, it will – hopefully – cut down on the major problem experienced by the city when it operated a recycling bin more than a decade ago.

When the city’s bin was situated both at Randolph and Locust streets, and in the city parking lot at Johnson and Fifth streets, some people tossed such things as dead fish and trash into the bins.

Sanders hopes that local residents exhibit more responsibility in the future.

“We’re hoping that people use the program and use it right, and that we don’t have people who cause something like this to be discontinued,” she said.

Saturday’s collection drive came on the heels off the startup of an electronic recycling program that got off to an overwhelming start several months ago.

During the one-day drive that kicked off that recycling effort, about 6 1/2 tons – or about 3 1/2 semi trailer loads – were collected. The committee continues to accept electronic goods on the lot of the SWCD lot at Third and Johnson streets every Wednesday afternoon.

“People are still bringing stuff in,” Sanders said.

“It ranges from older individuals bringing in food storage bags containing just a few old batteries to someone bringing in a truckload of computer stuff,” Sanders said.

“That’s a good thing, because it means that we have a lot of people around here who just don’t want to throw those things into their trash,” she said.

Much of the work to set up the recycling programs has been done by Sanders. But she said that she doesn’t mind the work.

“It takes a lot of leg work to get these kinds of things going,” she said. “But it’s worth the effort.”