Why the recycling secrecy?

After reading the Oct. 1 article on recycling (“City looking at surcharge to cover losses from recycling”), my mind kept going back to one sentence: “The city is not necessarily told by Waste Management where the materials wind up, so it’s unclear what percentage is actually being repurposed.” Why is that?

I found the answer in an October 7, 2018, S-R article. (Apparently, October is the month to write about recycling.) “Waste Management won’t say where it ships its recycling.” I find that astounding. A WM spokesperson said “We need to keep that information close to the vest in the interest of our customer base.” Aren’t we, the citizens of Spokane, their customer base? What kind of a contract allows WM to keep the final destination secret? How long is this contract going to last?

I can’t see paying a $2 surcharge is going to help this situation. Nor will reducing the number of pickups per month. Have we asked the people on the line at WM who actually do the separation what they think would be a solution? (It could be anonymous so they don’t get fired.)

It’s obvious that no reasonable plan for the future of recycling in Spokane can be made without knowing what happens to our recycled material. To do so is a disservice to the people of Spokane who care about the environment — which hopefully is all of us. Until then, we will be believers in the myth that we are doing good, saving money and saving resources by single-stream recycling

Linda Greene

Spokane