Editor's note: Today I'd like to welcome a guest post from Lisa Sharp from Retro Housewife Goes Green.
Earlier this week I saw the truth in that quote. Long before I was a part of my local recycling coalition, they started fighting for curbside recycling. However, the past couple of years have become more important for this fight. Our city’s landfill is expected to be full within five years. This meant our city had to look at either opening a new landfill, building a transfer station, or contracting out our trash pick-up. This made it the perfect time for the coaliton to start really pushing hard for curbside recycling.
The coalition started talking to the city and telling them this was something they needed to really consider in their search for an answer to our trash problems. Some of our members even met a couple of times with the city to talk about this issue. In their last meeting, one of the bidding trash collection companies was present. The coalition members made our suggestions of having single-stream, curbside recycling and for cardboard to be handled by the city (cardboard is our money maker and we have a great system already in place) as it has been.
When we learned that the city had picked a collection company and that approving the contract was on the city council’s agenda, we were nervous. We hoped they had listened to us, but we had also been shot down before and we were afraid it would happen again. So four of us attended the very long meeting. When the options were presented to the city council two of the four included curbside recycling. We got excited at this point, we could see the finish line.
There were still some hurdles to clear though. A few of the council members didn’t seem sure about the idea and had concerns. Thankfully we were ready. One of our members got up and spoke to the council about why recycling was good for our town. He covered several concerns and seemed to start to put them more at ease. The mayor had been voicing concerns that it would overwhelm citizens and we should wait. After the recycling coalition member spoke, the mayor said he could be convinced to go either way. So another of our members spoke about her desire to see curbside recycling and how many people had come to her voicing the same desire. We could see there concerns being chipped away.
Then I decided I had to speak as well. I hate speaking at things like this...I get so nervous. But I had to do it, nervous or not. So I gave some facts I had researched before the meeting and told the council all of the wonderful benefits of recycling for our city. Much to my surprise the mayor smiled and said, “well, you have convinced me.” We started to feel pretty hopeful at that point but were holding our breath while they discussed other details of the trash contract. They finally voted after what seemed like forever and, much to our wonderful surprise, they voted 5-0 in favor of curbside recycling. The room burst into applause, not just from myself and my fellow recycling coalition members, but also the other citizens that were at the meeting for other reasons.
We could hardly contain ourselves and rushed outside to cheer and celebrate more, and one member yelled, "hallelujah!" as soon as he was out of the door. We had met one of our long-time goals! Our small group had changed the way our town handles waste. We were able to show that a few passionate people can make a lot of change, even in small, rural towns in Oklahoma. So when you feel like you are swimming upstream, remember these words from a famous blue fish, “just keep swimming.”
Lisa Sharp is a freelance writer, social media marketer and environmental activist, living in a small town in Oklahoma. She has a blog called Retro Housewife Goes Green and runs the website Green Oklahoma.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead
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| Lisa Sharp |
The coalition started talking to the city and telling them this was something they needed to really consider in their search for an answer to our trash problems. Some of our members even met a couple of times with the city to talk about this issue. In their last meeting, one of the bidding trash collection companies was present. The coalition members made our suggestions of having single-stream, curbside recycling and for cardboard to be handled by the city (cardboard is our money maker and we have a great system already in place) as it has been.
When we learned that the city had picked a collection company and that approving the contract was on the city council’s agenda, we were nervous. We hoped they had listened to us, but we had also been shot down before and we were afraid it would happen again. So four of us attended the very long meeting. When the options were presented to the city council two of the four included curbside recycling. We got excited at this point, we could see the finish line.
There were still some hurdles to clear though. A few of the council members didn’t seem sure about the idea and had concerns. Thankfully we were ready. One of our members got up and spoke to the council about why recycling was good for our town. He covered several concerns and seemed to start to put them more at ease. The mayor had been voicing concerns that it would overwhelm citizens and we should wait. After the recycling coalition member spoke, the mayor said he could be convinced to go either way. So another of our members spoke about her desire to see curbside recycling and how many people had come to her voicing the same desire. We could see there concerns being chipped away.
Then I decided I had to speak as well. I hate speaking at things like this...I get so nervous. But I had to do it, nervous or not. So I gave some facts I had researched before the meeting and told the council all of the wonderful benefits of recycling for our city. Much to my surprise the mayor smiled and said, “well, you have convinced me.” We started to feel pretty hopeful at that point but were holding our breath while they discussed other details of the trash contract. They finally voted after what seemed like forever and, much to our wonderful surprise, they voted 5-0 in favor of curbside recycling. The room burst into applause, not just from myself and my fellow recycling coalition members, but also the other citizens that were at the meeting for other reasons.
We could hardly contain ourselves and rushed outside to cheer and celebrate more, and one member yelled, "hallelujah!" as soon as he was out of the door. We had met one of our long-time goals! Our small group had changed the way our town handles waste. We were able to show that a few passionate people can make a lot of change, even in small, rural towns in Oklahoma. So when you feel like you are swimming upstream, remember these words from a famous blue fish, “just keep swimming.”
Lisa Sharp is a freelance writer, social media marketer and environmental activist, living in a small town in Oklahoma. She has a blog called Retro Housewife Goes Green and runs the website Green Oklahoma.
3 intelligent opinions. Add yours!:
What fantastic proof that it is possible to make a change. I have also contact my local council recently about curbside recycle collection as although it is in place I can see room for improvements.
I really liked the article, and the very cool blog
Rachel: That's a great step! I encourage you to check to see if your town has a recycling coalition or other group that could help with this. Having several like-minded people working on one goal is so helpful.
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