Volunteers needed to pack plastic
for recycling

Plastic and cardboard have been piling up at the Rainbow Recycling Center [photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — The Rainbow Recycling Center has seen better days. Now, the trash is overflowing and getting really backed up. The city picks up the glass from the facility and provides the space for it, but everything else relies on the volunteers to get it done. The city was picking up the cardboard, but now the community pantry has decided to take on the task.

”With the rain and everything else, sometimes they get behind,” Betsy Windisch, who is a member of the McKinley Citizens Recycling Council, said.

The lack of manpower to handle the task is also evident from the heaps of plastic stored at Recycle America, which is also Gallup Camper Sales. The process of sorting and bundling plastic requires many labor hours.

“That’s the problem. We don’t have enough volunteers,” Windisch said.

In hopes of drumming up more volunteers, McKinley Citizens Recycling Council is sponsoring Plastic Days. On two consecutive Saturdays, the group is hoping to get a significant number of people to all come down to the Recycle America Warehouse on Historic Route 66 East anytime between 8 a.m. until noon.

They’re hoping that a concerted effort to sort and bale the collected plastics will greatly reduce the overwhelming volume at the warehouse. Gallup Camper Sales has provided space to keep these recyclable items from going to the regional landfill, but it still must be processed and shipped to recycling facilities.

Information: Betsy, 722-9257 or Sheryl, 722-2021.