The beautiful mountains and natural landscape, the ever-growing population, a booming economy: reducing waste provides a positive benefit on many aspects of life, especially in the Eastern Panhandle.
In Berkeley County specifically, there are three recycling centers that offer the perfect first steps in beginning to reduce waste in the new year. Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority chair Clint Hogbin said two of the three facilities are very comprehensive for those just starting out in the recycling game as he offered good advice for beginners.
“For the person who’s maybe just starting for the first time, we often encourage them to just visit one of the sites, find one of our employees, maybe get a little 10-minute tour, see how things are collected and the rules and just start with one item and build from there,” Hogbin said. “I often encourage paper. Paper seems to be a good starting point for everyone because we all know what paper is.”
He laughed as he added the rule for recycling paper: “There’s really one kind of two rules with paper: is it paper or is it not paper?”
From there, Hogbin said individuals can learn more about recycling and move on to additional areas such as cans, glass, yard waste and brush, plastic, oil and antifreeze among other items taken by the centers. However, that paper starting point is particularly relevant this time of year as the holiday season is in full force.
“With the advent of ordering things on the Internet and having it shipped to you, we all have a lot more paper, a lot more cardboard in our waste stream,” Hogbin said. “Believe it or not, people who manufacture cardboard are having a difficult time getting enough old cardboard to make new cardboard. It helps the economy. It helps employment. It helps our processes we’ve become used to. It helps them work better if you’re helping by recycling.”