Bristol needs to get back to doing the right thing for environment

To The Daily Sun,

An open letter to the Selectboard of Bristol, New Hampshire on recycling and our new transfer station:

I attended a public Selectboard meeting on August 19 where a report was given on recycling waste in Bristol. I have recycled all of my adult life, wherever I have lived. Sometimes it was a burden, often there were additional costs to me as a resident or rebates back on my taxes if I DID recycle, but ALWAYS it felt like the right thing to do.

I understand the cost of recycling is going up everywhere and for many reasons. I also know that how and what we recycle is complicated. Because of these issues, I appreciate the efforts of our Selectboard in taking a close look at the best way to bring recycling back to Bristol. We are all smart people! But let us not take too long to look.

Recycling is the responsible thing to do for our community, for our environment, for our future. When I take my garbage to the dump, I am aware of the stuff I am throwing into the trash and it makes me think about responsible waste. Recycling helps. We can not get out of the habit.

So, please, step up your efforts. We have a new transfer station that is clean and easy to access. There have been some initial bumps, but I know you are working on improving this. There are options we can look at: recycling cardboard which is increasing in our waste daily, keeping the glass recycling going, restarting single-stream, or separating waste. Other towns are also working on these issues, so let’s work together and keep recycling.

Every time I am at the dump, I mention recycling and everyone there seems to agree — we need to get back to doing the right thing.

There will be an updated report at the Selectboard Meeting on September 5, 6 p.m. at 230 Lake Street in Bristol. We should all attend.

Janet Metcalf

Bristol