The Norman Transcript

Editorials

Discussion

February 7, 2013

Recycling program changes coming soon

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — When Norman utility customers began their venture into the world of curbside recycling in 2008, excitement was high. Participation reached upward of 50 percent of all households. Some people couldn’t wait to put their green baskets on the curb.

Since then, however, interest has dropped. Only about 40 percent of the city’s utility customers regularly use their recycling bins, even though all pay a monthly fee. The city may take the service in-house rather than continuing with a private contractor.

Any changes, whether with city crews or continuing with a private contractor, will have to go before the Norman City Council in coming weeks. It would be similar to the garbage pickup changes made when we went from trash cans to polycarts. Then, we went from twice-a-week service to once a week, with one day for yard waste pick-up.

A biweekly pickup of recyclables in a larger, designated polycart is proposed. There also is discussion of adding multi-family to the recycling mix. Currently, apartment complexes do not have recycling dumpsters on site.

With some time for public education, the plan could work and participation could increase, especially with buy-in from apartment complexes. The goal remains the same today as it was in 2008: Continue to divert materials from landfills and reuse recyclable items.

For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Editorials
  • Tax plan gets projects going

    A deal to divert state use taxes to fund completion of the American Indian Cultural Center Museum in Oklahoma City and build the Museum of Popular Culture in Tulsa looks like a good way to get some momentum on both projects....

    May 18, 2013

  • Keeping the state’s promise

    A college education or professional certification will not guarantee a successful career, but the odds are much better when such accomplishment is achieved. Access to post-high school education is often problematic. Oklahoma’s Promise, ...

    May 18, 2013

  • National Bike to Work Day

    Norman visitors and new residents often comment on how flat it is around here. Indeed, Norman is at the crossroads of the flat western half of the state and the more hilly eastern half....

    May 17, 2013

  • Seizure of AP phone records insult to independent press

    Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure that the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a ...

    May 17, 2013

  • The math doesn’t add up

    The $7.1 billion budget bill passed through both chambers of the state Legislature this week will have its critics. No one ever gets all they want. State Sen. John Sparks, D-Norman, raised the issue of $13 million in additional allocation ...

    May 16, 2013

  • Medicaid standoff a disservice

    Does anyone else see the massive irony in Gov. Mary Fallin’s latest attack on the Obama administration? She accused the president of not keeping his word and of “actively” seeking to toss 30,000 Oklahomans off a state-subsidized health ...

    May 16, 2013

  • County’s rapid growth requires more judges

    Cleveland County judges have been asking for some bench relief for about four decades. A former district judge, writing in a Transcript guest column this month, said he began asking for at least one, and maybe two more, district judges as ...

    May 16, 2013

  • Norman fights flames

    A drive along State Highway 9, east of Norman, contains visible reminders of last summer’s wildfires, which devastated parts of southern and eastern Cleveland County. Acres of burned trees are evidence of where the fire lines ended....

    May 15, 2013

  • It's a sign of the times

    The topic of wayfinding signs will come before the Norman City Council soon. Chamber of Commerce members approved the concept this week with a side discussion about Tecumseh Road versus Tecumseh Town....

    May 15, 2013

  • Northbound trains still just talk

    The Amtrak Heartland flyer train began service from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth on Flag Day, 1999. Its inaugural run south marked the end of a 20-year absence of passenger rail between Oklahoma and Texas....

    May 14, 2013