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Jackson County Health Department receives recycling award
Aluminum cans, plastic bottles, glass jars, newspapers or old tires; whatever can be recycled into something new, the Jackson County Health Department will take. For the past six years, the department's recycling program has worked to better the environment, and now it has been rewarded for its efforts.
The JCHD recently received the 2003 "Outstanding Government Program" award from the Illinois Recycling Association in recognition of its recycling program, which has been in operation since 1997.
The award was presented at the association's annual conference and trade show June 24 in Urbana. Bart Hagston, county recycling coordinator, accepted the award on behalf of the Health Department and said it is nice to know that the county's recycling efforts have not gone unnoticed.
"I'm thrilled that some of our peers have thought highly of the work we have done here," Hagston said.
Kevin Gillespie, director of environmental health at the JCHD, said that the department had never before been nominated for such an award, but he does know why they were this year.
"Bart Hagston has set up some very innovative programs," Gillespie said. "He worked hard to get things started here that you just do not see anywhere else."
The Health Department's recycling efforts have included public awareness campaigns, technical and financial assistance to schools, municipalities, waste haulers and recycling centers. The department also coordinates special events such as used tire collections, household hazardous waste collections, compost bin distribution and an electronics recycling program.
Hagston said that the program has come a long way since 1997, and he hopes to keep it up in the years to come.
"It's a continually expanding effort," Hagston said. "We started out just educating people about recycling."
Waste haulers are required to offer curbside recycling service to all single-family residences within municipalities besides Carbondale. Jackson County entered into an agreement in 1997 with the City of Carbondale for it to continue to operate its own recycling program that had been in existence since 1991. The county provides recycling bins to residents through licensed waste haulers.
Gillespie said that recycling is beneficial to the county as well as the state as a whole and will help in the long run by saving resources.
"The basic idea is to not waste materials that can still be useful and in turn use less raw materials," Gillespie said.
In 2002, Jackson County recycled 24 percent of its solid waste, up from the 11 percent achieved prior to the implementation of the county's recycling program. Hagston said that the increase proves that the department is doing a good job and that people are showing interest in recycling.
"We can see our hard work is paying off," Hagston said. "We usually increase 1 to 2 percent each year."
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Bureau of Energy and Recycling nominated the health department for the award.
According to the DCEO, Illinois is home to more than 2,400 recycling and reuse establishments contributing $269 million annually in state and local tax revenues. As a result, recycling indirectly contributes an additional 40,000 jobs with a payroll of $1.7 billion and receipts of $5.7 billion to Illinois. It estimates that approximately 1.9 percent of the Illinois gross state product is attributable to the recycling and reuse industry.
Despite the contribution of jobs and money to the state, Hagston said he believes Illinoisans gain something better because recycling allows people to clean up the environment.
"There's a limited amount of resources on Earth, and technology will only allow us to live here for so long before we run out," Hagston said.
Overall, Hagston said that receiving an award for all the work the recycling program has done during the past few years is rewarding, but participation could still be better in the future.
"By getting an award we don't expect to be patted on the back and told good job, you're done," Hagston said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."
