Submitted by Ben Stallings on
This morning I received the following message through this site's "Contact Us" page:
Carol (larry [at] yahoo [dot] com) sent a message using the contact form at http://www.greendoorkansas.com/contact.
I just contacted the City land fill and was advised that they accept plastic bags from Walmart. but not others. They collect Walmarts bags and return them to them using our city workers to do so. I advised if the City is going to accept Walmart bags they need to accept all, as I do not think our city should be working for Walmart. I know that if they go into recycling they will put your company out of business. I also do not agree that they should be going into business to compeat against a local business that alone help
Walmart make money.
I tried to reply, but the email address turned out to be invalid, so I'm posting my response here for all to see:
Hi, Carol. Thank you for writing, but I think you have jumped to conclusions prematurely.
First of all, we have been working with the city every step of the way on their plan, and they are not going to put us out of business. Please do not oppose the city's plan on our behalf, as we support it. It will be a win for everyone in the region. Read more about our position here: http://www.greendoorkansas.com/content/status-city-wide-curbside-recycling
Second, what do you suggest the city do with the other plastic bags that no one will recycle? The only market for plastic bags in this area is Walmart, and they only want their own bags back. All others are garbage because no one will take them. By accepting the bags that can be recycled and taking them to where they can be, the city's recycling center is just doing its job -- the same thing they do with all other recyclables they accept -- not working for Walmart any more than they work for the other places where they dispose of recyclables.
Again, thank you for contacting us directly. It sounds like you are a responsible citizen trying to do the right thing, and that is admirable.
Ben Stallings
The Green Door