Council members have taken the opportunity to improve our community in a fun and helpful way, to grow recycling possibilities. Starting in August, Stillwater will team up with Great Lakes Recycling Inc. to start the program, Simple Recycling. This program allows residents to recycle clothing while preserving it to pass on to those who need it. This program is free to all residents and gives everyone an equal chance to participate.  Simple Recycling is a goal that numerous people including Karen Richtman, a recycling consultant have been working hard to achieve. In Stillwater, residents only accumulate a 30 percent recycling rate, which is fairly good. Each person accumulates five to six pounds of garbage a day, through this program that trash can turn into renewable resources.

This program was presented to Washington County and asked if any towns within the county wanted to commit to Simple Recycling.  Stillwater has been the only to commit due to the acceptability of residents because of the shared garbage company that Stillwater already provides.  Simple Recycling will be free because of a grant that is annually provided to all towns in Washington County.

Richtman, said, “It takes time to get this program, not every city has a recycling consultant…For example a city like Woodbury, they have an open hauling system which means that you can hire any garbage company…They couldn’t organize this, so the focus has been on those communities like Stillwater that have the single hauler system.”

Textiles have been shown are the most trashed items that could have been recycled and reused for numerous other uses. The textiles that are not recycled, especially clothing, may cause damage to the machinery that breaks down the materials as it get caught in the choppers. Eighty five percent of textiles are not recycled or donated to others, especially places like Goodwill which take the clean enough clothes and recycle or sell the rest. The unusable textiles can be converted into new objects including insulation, rags, or energy. To create the new energy the resources are brought to different plants like the Recycling to Energy Center are located in cities like Mankato and Red Wing.

Richtman said, “It was all clothing and textiles including pillows and blankets really just what they don’t want at Goodwill.  He said they will take other smaller things… We’d rather you take say a small working vacuum to a Goodwill… give it away.”

Simple Recycling is still a growing program; by 2018 they would like to reach not only 1-4 family homes, but also multifamily units to obtain the most recycling opportunities. Not only does Simple Recycling want to grow, but Minnesota wants to raise the recycling by placing a certain amount each city has to complete by 2020. Programs like Simple Recycling are raising more awareness and creating more opportunities to recycle.