Texas landfills are more full than ever before, with an estimated 17.8 tons of trash per person living in the state. This is a growing problem that can be solved by recycling.
“Instead of throwing that can into the trash maybe we start to do the recycling bin," director of Keep Waco Beautiful, Carole Fergusson, said.
Fergusson has been recycling since she was a child and now encourages others to do as well through her work with Keep Waco Beautiful.
"We offer a lot of educational aspects," Fergusson said. "We do rainwater harvesting classes, we also educate people on general beautification."
Fergusson hopes their efforts will inspire others to do their part when it comes to lessening their waste.
“I think there’s a pretty big divide," Fergusson said. "We have some of the younger generations and then gen z who is really passionate, all the way up to people who are maybe retired and still trying to find ways to educate themselves about it. I don’t think you’re ever too old or too young to pick up recycling.”
Every day more people are picking up the habit, with the Cobbs Recycling Center in Waco recently seeing more people than ever before.
“Last year we has 33,000 people come to Cobbs and we saw a record year for tonnage collected curbside for our recycle program," Kody Petillo, Assistant Director of Solid Waste, told 25News.
Petillo said joining the recycling movement in Waco is pretty simple. Residents can register for curbside pickup or collect their own waste and bring it to the center to be separated into glass, cans, or cardboard.
“You actually don’t have to get out for the recyclables," Petillo said. "Our team will go to your vehicle and pull that material out then sort it.”
To recognize Texas Recycle Day, the Cobbs Center is hosting a tire drop-off this weekend for Waco residents. More information on that can be found at Waco-texas.com/solidwaste.
