Caroline Rose

Caroline Rose, a teacher at St. Mathew’s Episcopal School in Houma, says as a mother and teacher, she tries to teach her children to be responsible for their belongings. Recycling is part of that responsibility, she says.

“Recycling is about being responsible for the things you own,” Rose says, “even that milk jug you own temporarily.”

But since moving to Houma in June from Battle Creek, Mich., recycling has become more difficult for Rose. In Michigan her city provided a curbside recycling program where newspapers, magazines, cardboard, plastics,aluminum and tin cans and glass were collected one to two times a week. Houma does not have a curbside recycling program, and Rose says there is no place in Houma for her to recycle plastics and cardboard.

Currently 31 churches and schools in the parish do, however, serve as centers for paper collection, and the parish offers curbside pickup for “white goods” — which include large appliances like washing machines and refrigerators, Eulin Guidry, solid waste administrator for Terrebonne Parish, says. But still there is no option for plastic and cardboard items.

As a solution, Rose brings her recyclables to a friend who lives closer to Thibodaux and the recyclable drop-off site at the Wal-Mart there. Rose made this arrangement with her friend after realizing a round trip from her house to the site took an hour. “While it’s not convenient, it serves no one to be wasteful,” Rose says.

SWeeDee, who provides solid waste collection services for both Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, provides dumpsters for recyclables at the three Wal-Mart locations in Lafourche Parish. Any recyclable materials can be deposited, with the exception of glass, Corey Callais, president and CEO of SWeeDee, says. Once the dumpsters are full, SWeeDee brings the recyclables to a recycling center in Baton Rouge.

Rose says if more drop-off sites for recyclables were available, more people would get involved. But finances are a key consideration when it comes to recycling programs, and participation plays a big role. At one time both Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes had curbside recycling programs. Both were discontinued due to lack of participation.

However, the city of Thibodaux does have curbside recycling, Callais says. “With curbside you need to have a high rate of participation, or it’s not worth it,” Callais says. “It’s not just the cost. You’re defeating the purpose [when participation is low] because a truck burning diesel must pass in front of every home.”

Guidry says the average joe does not think much about recycling. Most people do not think about where their garbage goes after it has been rolled to the curb. “It’s a throw-away world,” Guidry says.

Two collection points in Terrebonne Parish can receive tree limbs, metals, some white goods, batteries, oil, antifreeze and tires, Guidry says. The collection points are located at Isle of Cuba Road in Schriever and at Crochetville Road in Montegut.

Guidry says implementing drop-off sites at the Wal-Mart stores in Terrebonne Parish is a possibility. He says research regarding the program’s effectiveness and cost would need to be in order.

Although convenience and disposableness have consumed the American way of life, Callais says educating young people to be more environmentally conscious is where the future of recycling lies. “It has to be a way of life,” he says.

Among a group of students at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, recycling is becoming just that. A new club known as Go Recycle; End Environmental Neglect (GREEN) has been promoting paper recycling with the presence of green recycling bins in all computer labs. Alexandra Morris, GREEN’s president, says club members make about six trips to the Thibodaux Wal-Mart each week to deposit the paper.

Morris says the club plans to expand its campaign to include plastics, cardboard and aluminum. “The club wants to make the opportunities to recycle and do things for the environment more plentiful on campus,” Morris says.

Rose says the benefits of recycling outweigh its costs. “Everything we do has a cost,” Rose says. “We pay for convenience in the disposable items we purchase and pay
in creating more waste than necessary. A community needs to decide which price is the most costly in the long run.” PoV