Host community Johnston can do much better with recycling

To the Editor:

I have to disagree with Mayor Polisena, Johnston does not do enough as the host community when it comes to recycling.

“Pickers” are not our major issue – they are only removing aluminum cans from our small blue square bins that can hardly fit a day’s worth of recycling. Other towns like Warwick and Cranston are on the forefront of recycling because they have recycling coordinators dedicated to promoting recycling, large 95-gallon cans to accommodate two weeks of recycling, and

the results are a testament to their great programs.

Johnston is one of the only towns to still use the smaller green/blue bins which cannot hold very much and with no covers – all the recycling litters our residential streets. Our public areas, Johnston ball parks and our school play yards do not have recycling barrels to collect empty water bottles and paper that could easily increase our tonnage. If we used recycling check to hire a part-time recycling coordinator we could communicate to our residents on the proper way to recycle to avoid contamination, acquire large covered bins to increase capacity and get pick up every other week on recyclables.

Other towns are already looking to recycle other commodities like shrink-wrap plastic bags, food scraps and larger plastic items. Yes, I feel Johnston as the host community should be leading the way to reduce the amount of trash going into our “backyard,” not trailing way behind the other communities.

Every Sunday in front of my house, you will see two large green covered barrels I purchased at Home Depot as my recycle bins. In my backyard, there is a compost pile collecting food scraps and plastic bags in my garage that I take every month to RIRRC.

As a concerned Johnston resident living within two miles of the landfill, I will do everything to decrease the amount of trash being sent to landfill. Will you?

Lori Pezzullo

Johnston

Resident RIRRC commissioner