Council should expand the available options

A decision on what products will be accepted for recycling is in the hands of the mayor of Sandpoint and City Council as the contractual agreement between Waste Management and the city is up for renewal.

I am a preschool/kindergarten teacher in Sandpoint and I constantly teach the children to help take care of the earth by learning to reduce, re-use and recycle. I ask them where they think the items go that they throw into the trash from their lunch boxes. (There are many small yogurt, applesauce and juice containers in there.) They say it goes in the garbage, of course. When I ask where that garbage goes, some say "the dump." Then I show them a video of a landfill and show them their garbage doesn't go away, it goes right on the earth. This puts things in a different light and they see how, if we throw everything we use away when we are done with it, that we are really littering the earth.

The children will ask me if this or that be recycled and I sadly have to tell them, "no, not in Sandpoint." I am talking about the No. 3 and No. 7 plastics that so much food comes in. I am hoping that the time is now to find a solution to this dilemma.

If you feel similarly, please contact Mayor Ray Miller and the Sandpoint City Council to let them know you would support expanded recycling in Sandpoint.

CYNTHIA MASON

Hope