Smurfs are cute cartoon characters. “Murfs”? Not so much.

In fact, some murfs, as material recovery facilities are called, look like garbage dumps, and that has their neighbors upset. But they aren’t dumps; they’re recycling centers. And the state of Washington welcomes them.

The state encourages recycling because of the environmental benefits associated with lower energy use and lower demand for the raw materials needed for manufacturing. The mantra nationwide is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”

In response, legislators and regulators passed laws and rules that provide incentives to build recycling facilities.

But what if the incentives themselves present environment-related quandaries? That’s a question some north Spokane residents have been asking ever since the state made it easier to start such businesses.

It’s easy to see the problem as you pass a large tract near Crestline Street and Lincoln Road. With mountains of junk dotting the landscape, it doesn’t look like something the state would want to encourage. It certainly isn’t something you’d want to live near.

It looks like a landfill or transfer station, but it isn’t. And thus it is subject to less stringent requirements than a solid-waste operation, which cannot open without thorough environmental reviews and the imprimatur of a health department.

Murf operators merely fill out an application 30 days before opening.

Neighbors are justifiably miffed that such lax requirements have resulted in the environmental degradation of their surroundings. The state ought to consider a practical middle ground that preserves the viability of such businesses without allowing them to be unwelcome eyesores.

The facility near Crestline Street is moving to a larger lot near Regal Street. The county shut it down because the site was deemed too small for its use and thus a zoning violation.

The state says it wants to make sure the wood, metal and other construction junk there is recycled. But the process has been slow, which makes neighbors who worry about health and fire hazards nervous.

The state should devise clearer expectations and requirements for the owners of recycling businesses. Plus, it needs a better enforcement mechanism. It isn’t clear now whether anyone is consistently monitoring these facilities.

It makes no sense to encourage and promote recycling if the businesses themselves become sources of blight.