<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">After just being named the cleanest midsize city, I still find it odd that Lake Charles has no real recycling program.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">If not giving people the option to have a separate recycling container at their house, why can’t the city invest in multiple public recycling containers for people to bring their stuff to?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Technically, the city does have a recycling program, and it does offer residents multiple drop-off sites.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Team Green’s recycling truck parks in different places throughout the week:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Monday — 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m., Wal-Mart on U.S. 171.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Wednesday — 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m., Kroger on 12th Street.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Thursday — 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m., Kmart, at Ryan Street and Sale Road.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Saturday — 8-9:30 a.m., Wal-Mart on La. 14; 10 a.m.-3:45 p.m., Prien Lake Mall.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Additionally, the city has two drop-off centers — one at the wood waste facility, at 4331 E. Broad St., and the other at the Nelson Ball Field on Alma Lane.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The first is open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, and the second is open 8 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Monday-Saturday.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Each drop-off center takes bagged aluminum cans, paper, cellphones, plastics, old ink cartridges and fluorescent bulbs. The wood waste site also takes used motor oil.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Another service: The city collects mercury products 9 a.m.-2 p.m. each Friday at the Wastewater Division site at 1132 West 18th St.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The city started a curbside recycling program two decades ago, but it lasted only three years — done in, in part, by low market prices and high transport costs. Similar factors continue to govern city officials’ decisions on recycling, said Assistant City Administrator Eligha Guillory.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Recycling as an industry is driven by the law of supply and demand. The economics of the recycling industry makes it more common in larger urbanized areas for several reasons, including relatively higher costs of landfill disposal, limited landfill capacity and larger volumes of recyclable waste, which in turn supports the demand for such materials,” Guillory, Team Green liaison, wrote in a statement forwarded to The Informer.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Other economic factors also affect the recycling market. For example the recent decline in oil prices has made it cheaper for many companies to buy new plastics than to buy recycled plastic. The city’s experience with its recycling program over the years is that the limited market in our area for such materials makes it relatively expensive to recycle.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">A curbside recycling program would add to garbage collection costs, and city officials “would have to consider charging for it” if they decided to offer the service, Guillory said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.cityoflakecharles.com/recycle.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er answers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>