Recycling problems

Every effort by everyone residing or working in Whitefish and the North Valley should be made supporting and encouraging Cory Cullen in his efforts to save us from ourselves.

Our landfill/dump is a disgrace and the laughing stock of people from all over the country and world who have put recycling to work for them. Every time I go to the dump to deposit garbage and sort out my recycling, I get furious at the careless indifference of the vast majority of "dumpers."

The dumpsters are full of new and usable items, the recycling bins are hardly used and badly used at that. Can anybody read? They ask that cardboard be flattened and put in the designated bin. There are piles of boxes in the dumpsters, and the contractors are some of the worst offenders.

How much time and effort does it take to flatten a box? I guess we should be grateful that it even gets in the right bin even if at least half of it hadn't been flattened,

Glass is also a huge issue. Years ago, Flathead Industries would take glass. Then there was nowhere to go. Now there's a lot of talk about how expensive it is to recycle. It is too expensive for the environment not to recycle.

And here we have someone who is willing to take on that task. If every bar and eating place would not only hire him to pick up their massive amounts of glass, but chip in a small amount, he/we could afford to pulverize — since the state machine seems to be a bad joke.

Maybe the city could cut a deal with Burlington Northern Santa Fe to provide a boxcar once a month to haul it elsewhere. There are solutions to our growing (growth equals more people more garbage) problem, and they should be addressed now.

Sharlot Battin

Whitefish