JACKSON, Miss. – Only half of Mississippians have access to a local recycling program, and the residents here aren’t alone.
Despite rising interest in recycling, there are huge pockets of rural America where residents would have to drive 100 miles or more to recycle even basic household trash such as paper and plastic.
“It is difficult for a rural state,” says Mark Williams, an administrator for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. “And I tell people we have to work harder to be successful.”
There are many barriers. Spread-out populations and long distances drive up the costs of hauling recyclables, and low volumes suppress potential profits, Williams says.
State-by-state numbers are difficult to compare because rate calculations differ. But industry experts agree that rural areas, which make up 16 percent of the population, are a big reason why 14 percent of all Americans still lack access to recycling, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates.
Fewer than 20 percent of Mississippians participate in a local recycling program, well below the state goal of 25 percent and the national average of 34 percent. Wyoming, the second least-densely populated state in the country, diverts only 15 percent of its waste to recycling or compost, half the national average of 30 percent.
Some rural areas have had success.
In Torrance County, N.M., where 16,383 people are spread across 3,346 square miles, three of the five towns, including tiny Encino (population: 82), have drop-off locations, and the other two are within about 15 miles of the nearest bin.
“A little community doesn’t have to go it on their own,” said English Bird, executive director of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. In her state, access has increased by 113 percent since 2007. Helped by federal grant money, 115 drop-off locations have been added in that period. Wyoming has 38 total.
Williams says increasing participation in a drop-off program is particularly challenging, because it’s less convenient than curbside recycling. But in small towns, curbside programs have problems, too.
Low participation doomed a privately run curbside recycling program offered in Columbus and West Point, Miss. Out of 14,000 households, just 354 of them subscribed to the service. And those 354 stops required a route of 571 miles, said Phillip Crossley, a district manager for Waste Pro USA, which ended the program in September after two years.
Other ideas include “pay as you throw” programs, which charge for garbage pick-up by volume to try to deter people from throwing recyclables in the trash.
Another strategy? Showing that recycling and jobs go hand in hand. Unemployment in rural counties is around a percentage point higher than the nation at large, according to the nonprofit Center for Rural Strategies.
“Recycling generates four to five times as many jobs as landfills do because you’re using the materials over and over again,” Williams said. “That’s what recycling is about: It’s about harvesting our garbage for materials to put back into manufacturing.”
© 2013 USA TODAY. All rights reserved.
