The Coles County Sustainability Committee has constructed several ideas regarding recycling services, since the Charleston community is finding it hard to recycle.  

Some trash companies in the area have stopped recycling services and the Committee hopes to bring the services back.  

“My own individual trash company, Premier, stopped in June,” Julia Ehret said. “They stopped in June because they found out the facility, they were taking recycling material too was not recycling it. So, they did not feel like it was good to pretend like they were doing recycling when it was not happening.” 

Committee members say that it would help the planet if everyone were motivated to help save the environment around them, but it would also help if people knew where the trash goes.  

Retired educator, Brenda Crimmins stated that educating the community about how “the things in the planet interconnect,” would help people form a sense of appreciation towards the earth and understand the impact of recycling. 

The committee also discusses how everyone can attribute to making a healthier planet when it comes to pollution and how anyone can be good at helping the environment with “quick wins.” 

Ehret described quick wins as something that can be done right away to benefit the environment. 

The group also met to discuss how they can help with sustaining the planet we live on within the communities of Coles County. 

The idea of no plastic stores was brought up in the meeting to give a better understanding of how people can sustain the environment around them.  

No plastic stores are stores in which the customers bring in their own containers to refill with whatever they need.  

Ehret said that these stores usually carry, “Laundry soap, dish soap and shampoos, things that normally come in plastic, they would instead refill their own containers. So, they are not throwing away empty containers in the trash.” 

Community involvement is important to the Coles County Sustainability Committee, and they heavily emphasize the group discussion on what is important to the people of the community. 

“It sounds like most people are interested more in recycling,” Daniel Douglas, program coordinator of the Academy of Lifelong Learning said. “The beautiful thing about this group is that I think we can organically, no pun intended, develop the way we want to take this and what we want to do and how we want to do it.”  

The group looks forward to future meetings about sustainability in the environment around us. 

“It is an open forum group,” Douglas said. “Our next meeting is on October the 11th. So, if anyone that wants to join us can.” 

Chandler Smith can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].