Our Opinion: Recycling group aids co-workers, community

A group of employees at a local company are helping their co-workers, the community and, ultimately, the environment.

The recycling committee at RR Donnelley, a book manufacturer, invited employees on Wednesday to drop off unwanted, obsolete electronic equipment to be recycled.

Employees benefited because no fees were charged. Other e-recycling collections may charge for specific items or by the pound.

A community benefit is fewer e-waste items going into landfills, which ultimately raise costs for solid waste disposal.

Electronics brought to the RR Donnelly's e-cycling event included computers, monitors, keyboards, televisions, telephones, toasters and a hand-held vacuum.

The items were collected by Mid-Mo Recycling, Columbia, which charged a flat rate for the event.

Less than 1 percent of the items collected will go to a landfill, according to Stan Fredrick, owner of the recycling company.

Plastics are baled, circuit boards are removed, and wires, screws and aluminum are salvaged, he explained.

"Everything has a market somewhere," Fredrick observed.

Ultimately, recycling and reuse are necessary to reduce the waste stream and protect the environment.

Recycling is a learned behavior, which hopefully will become a habit. "The more you do it, the easier it is," said Joe Robinson, who participated in the event.

In the past three years, the company's recycling committee has diverted more than 270,000 pounds of solid waste from going to landfills.

And that isn't the group's only foray into community service. At the committee's behest, the City Council recently approved an Adopt-A-Street program, a public-private partnership to pick up roadside litter and trash.

We commend the members of RR Donnelly's recycling committee and the company for supporting their efforts.

A good corporate citizen is a community asset both for the actions it takes and the example it sets.