Apartments need recycling

Of the 18,000 off-campus students at IUB, most are unable to recycle without going out of their way to haul their sorted recycling to a facility south of Bloomington. But that is hardly an easy task. \nApartment dwellers have to store recyclables somewhere in their apartment, sort them (right down to colors of glass bottles), load them in the car and drive to 3400 Old State Road 37 South. Once there, a number of helpful workers are usually at the ready to unload your recycling with you -- thanks to court-mandated community service. \n Depending on how environmentally friendly your roommates are, it may be a community effort at home to sort and store recycles or -- more likely -- one caring person's responsibility. Depending on how much garbage you produce and how much storage space you have, you will have frequent trips to the recycling center.\nBut all of this should be a thing of the past. \nApartment residents should have the ability to recycle as easily as any other Bloomington resident: right at the street corner. Apartment complexes should be required to provide adequate recycling facilities in addition to the city-mandated garbage dumpsters found at all complexes. There may be a slight cost increase borne on apartment owners, but hardly enough per apartment to make much difference to their bottom line. Average rents (which most often ONLY include garbage collection as a free utility) in Bloomington are significantly higher than other comparable cities. \nSince state officials demanded counties reduce the amount of trash sent to Indiana landfills in 1990, local governments have been working to meet the 35 percent reduction requirement in 1996 and by 50 percent in 2001. Bloomington passed an ordinance in 1993 providing for a $1 sticker for each bag of trash or container of less than 35 gallons. Those fees increased recycling in Bloomington.\nThe obstacles to efficient, easy recycling are too high for thousands of off-campus residents. Environmental damage is often irreversible or too complicated to fix in a lifetime. Increasing recycling options for apartment dwellers is simple. \nCity officials should consider requiring apartment complexes to provide recycling options for residents right beside the already mandated trash containers. Then apartment residents would have no reason not to recycle.