To the editor:
Kudos to Irene Bender for pointing out the hazards of recycling in Habersham County in her recent letter to the editor on March 4. Not only are the recycling centers hazardous but hardly any improvements have been made in the forty plus years the county has provided recycling centers. In case I missed a response to Ms. Bender from other readers, Habersham County management, or county commissioners, please allow me to share my thoughts.
During the school year 1979-1980, I introduced the concept of “recycling” to my fourth graders at Clarkesville Elementary. To the students the most enjoyable part of the entire unit was bringing me their CLEAN recyclables from home much to the confusion of many parents. Each week on Friday, they would load the trunk of my car with their contributions and I would take them to the recycling center in Clarkesville located on the grounds of the Habersham DOT across from the fairgrounds. One objective of my lessons was to instill the long term value of recycling within the hearts and minds of my students. Hopefully many of them have retained those lessons and live in an area that promotes the values they learned in my classroom so many years ago. In Habersham County the same setup is being used today as was forty-plus years ago and the only improvement that I can see has been to add another location near Cornelia. Things do change and improve but obviously not recycling in Habersham County.
With the many and varied improvements that have taken place within our county government in recent years, why has recycling been so horribly neglected? I’m joining Ms. Bender by asking for changes in how we recycle in our county. I look forward to a response from county management and county commissioners regarding what is in the works to improve recycling in Habersham County.
Jean Armstrong
Cornelia