Recycle today for a better tomorrow
To say that Tacoma’s recycling system is broken… is being polite.
To be honest, it’s abhorrent. In the Pacific Northwest, we pride ourselves on being leaders when it comes to the environment. In fact, the name Tacoma is synonymous with nature and the outdoors. FUN FACT: That’s exactly why Toyota named their top selling off-roader after us. We love the outdoors and all that the Pacific Northwest has to offer!
Another FUN FACT: In the early nineties, Tacoma was the Top Rated Recycling city in the country. Not anymore… and it’s not even close. We’re no longer even the top rated city in the state.
When it comes to recycling, Tacoma is lagging behind other cities, in Washington state. You’d be amazed at the “smaller” cities who are leaps and bounds ahead of Tacoma, the second largest city in Western Washington, by population. The fact that we currently have four glass recycling drop off locations in Tacoma, YET all the glass that you go through the trouble to hand deliver to these stations, promptly ends up in the landfill. Yes, you read that right. All of the time and effort that you put in to drive to these stations does no good for your efforts. The City Of Tacoma is currently landfilling all the glass that you try to recycle.
Other cities take your glass and haul it to Portland to be recycled, but not the City Of Tacoma. Other cities process the glass and reuse it for the good of the community, but not the City Of Tacoma.
Here’s another FUN FACT for you. There are no plans to offer recycling for all the large apartment/condo buildings that Tacoma is green-lighting for construction. Thousands, if not millions of tons of recycling in Tacoma will end up in the landfill because Tacoma is not going to offer recycling to large commercial projects. Yes, they will offer drop-off service. How kind… they are going to allow you to collect and compile your recycling, drag it down an elevator, out to your car, into your trunk for you to haul it off, then sort it at the dump. All because you care more about the environment than the leaders of Tacoma.
And just because a product has the recycling logo on it, does not necessarily mean that it can or will be recycled. Much of that material still ends up in our landfill, unnecessarily.
Take the City of University Place, for example. A city one-eighth the size of Tacoma with only 35 thousand residents, does more for recycling than the City Of Tacoma. They even offer free drop off for Tacoma residents because our city leaders do not take recycling as seriously as they do, or any other city in Washington, for that matter.
As Mayor, I would see to it that Tacoma has a comprehensive recycling plan for our citizens. One that does not punish the environment for its lack of planning. I would explore Federal Grants and programs to build the infrastructure that is needed to recycle our goods and turn them into usable products that we can sell to other cities. I would see to it that all our glass was recycled and used to repair our roadways. Yes, glass can be used in the paving process and it’s quite durable and clean. It can also be used in conjunction with solar energy producing roadways that literally pay for themselves. Solar absorbing panels that power LEDs to not only illuminate the roadways but can be used to detour traffic away from accidents, reconfigure lanes during high traffic times, add or subtract handicapped parking spaces and even give information about future traffic occurrences. I will also see to it that items sold in Tacoma will only have the recycling logo on them if they can in fact be recycled. Otherwise, we are being mislead and there’s not reason for us to be misinformed.
The citizens of Tacoma deserve their efforts to be rewarded, We have a name to live up to and the powers that be in Tacoma need to lead the way with viable options for us all to flourish. For the people of Tacoma to lead by example to other cities that the environment needs us in order for a healthier tomorrow.
As your Mayor, I will take charge of this recycling debacle and turn things around for our City Of Destiny.