Make recycling part of routine

After nearly a year of being able to recycle materials only one day per month, residents of the Vandalia area now are able to drop off recyclables six days a week.
That’s a good thing for our community – and for the environment.
Making the expansion of services possible is a decision by leaders of FAYCO Enterprises to take on the recycling project in a big way. The agency provides a sheltered workshop for the developmentally disabled, and because of the recent loss of a grant, was seeking more projects for its clients. The recycling work fit the bill perfectly.
Starting the first of September, FAYCO set up recycling bins at its 1313 Sunset Drive facility. Those bins will handle a wide variety of materials, including newspapers and telephone books; magazines, catalogs and other books; several types of office paper; stretch wrap and bubble wrap; No. 1 and No. 2 plastic bottles; cardboard and corrugated boxes; and aluminum cans (rinsed and crushed).
Hours of collection are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and Sundays.
The Fayette County Soil and Water Conservation District, the agency that formerly ran the recycling effort, will continue to accept electronic items and glass recyclables from 1-5 p.m. on Wednesdays at its office at 301 S. Third St. in Vandalia.
We applaud Karen Sanders and Tony Pals of the soil and water conservation district, as well as the county recycling committee, for championing the recycling cause as it got off the ground here. Their efforts have made the expansion by FAYCO possible.
Now it’s up to us – the residents of the Vandalia area – to keep it going. We have the opportunity to keep a significant percentage of our trash out of the landfill by taking a few minutes to sort it and drop it by FAYCO.
Here at The Leader-Union, it’s now part of our weekly routine to transport all of our waste newsprint to the FAYCO recycling center. Doing so has significantly reduced the volume of paper we throw in the dumpster, and we feel good about that.
You, too, can feel good about doing your part for the environment. Get organized with a system of boxes or bags, and then put yourself on a schedule to drop your recyclables off. The folks at FAYCO will be glad to see you.
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