Bon Village going green

The Bon Village Homeowners Association is taking matters in its own hands when it comes to recycling and hopes its example might spread to other neighborhoods in Slidell.

Starting on the first Saturday in December, residents in the subdivision just north of Gause Boulevard will start collecting newspapers, aluminum and tin and sending the materials to be recycled.

The association’s president, Rick Franszczak, said the goal is two-fold. First they want to start doing the right thing and keeping recyclables out of landfills, and secondly, they want to make some money and give it to local schools and non-profit organizations.

“We’re real excited about this,” Franszczak said.

At the last meeting of the Bon Village Homeowners Association, resident Christy West proposed the subdivision start its own recycling program.

“She is a very green person,” said the association’s treasurer, Pat McQueen. “It’s because of her we are doing this. She is real disappointed we don’t have recycling.”

Curbside recycling has disappeared in Slidell since Hurricane Katrina. The Slidell City Council, back in October 2007, amended its contract with Coastal Waste Services to stop curbside recycling. It wasn’t that CWS or the council were against recycling, it had to do with cost and logistics.

Before Katrina, CWS was picking up recyclables and giving them to STARC, which employed people to sort and ship off recyclables to the Allied Waste plant. However, Katrina destroyed STARC’s equipment, and the organization was not able to restart its operations.

The storm also destroyed the Allied Waste recycling plant in New Orleans East that collected recycled material from four parishes. It was never rebuilt. As a result, CWS and other waste companies had to transport plastic, glass, aluminum, tin and other recyclables to the nearest collection point located in Baton Rouge. That was too expensive and time-consuming, said CWS general manager Gus Bordelon, and the company had to stop curbside recycling in Slidell.

Franszczak said one of the organizations they want to work with is STARC and help get it back into recycling. Right now, the association will start collecting only newspapers, aluminum and tin.

Bill Mauser, executive director of the Keep Slidell Beautiful Committee, said his organization has donated trashcans to the subdivision. Franszczak said the cans will be put out at the end of the streets on the first Saturday of each month, and residents can put the recyclables in them. Then students from Slidell High School will collect the cans and take them to West’s house, where the recyclables will be distributed to schools, which will sell items like aluminum for money.

Franszczak said Slidell High will get a lot of newspapers. Right now the association is working to build up its base of non-profits and schools that can be helped with the recycling. They are even negotiating with a non-profit in New Orleans East.

“We would like to get the ball rolling on recycling,” he said. “Maybe this will spur others to do the same thing.”

He said if a resident cannot get to a recycle can, volunteers will come to the house and pick up the recyclables.

“Hopefully this gets so big we will have to call in more people for help,” Franszczak said.