Longtime recycling advocate Steve Strickler is growing weary.
He spoke out twice this week, first on Monday night to Iola City Council members, and then again Tuesday morning to Allen County commissioners, about the future of recycling.
Strickler expressed growing frustration with what he described as a lack of progress and communication.
“Normally, I’m not too grumpy, but I’m starting to get a little frustrated on this recycling thing,” Strickler said Tuesday, explaining that responsibility for recycling efforts has stalled amid finger-pointing. “It seems like, to me, it’s one of those deals where the city blames the county and the county blames the city.”
Strickler told commissioners he recently stopped picking up cardboard after years of doing so.
“Honestly, I can’t afford to just keep financing the whole thing myself,” he said. He noted that while recycling takes effort, his biggest frustration has been the absence of follow-through from local leadership. According to Strickler, the city promised a meeting last May, but nearly nine months later “we still haven’t had a meeting.”
Both the city and county have agreed to fund positions for a joint recycling project, essentially taking over the program from Allen County Recycling.
“Please, let’s get some plans going on this thing,” Strickler told the Council. “It’s getting pretty frustrating.
“I hope, when you guys are thinking about a program, you might ask us what we’re doing, and what works and what doesn’t work,” he continued. “It’s kind of like if I were going to learn how to fly an airplane, I’d probably ask somebody who has flown an airplane before I tried to try to fly it by myself.”
DRAWING ON his years as a volunteer with Allen County Recycling, Strickler said Tuesday neither he nor members of the recycling committee have been asked for input.
“Those of us that have been living this for seven years should be asked what works and what doesn’t,” he said. “And I’ve not once been contacted by anybody.”
Commission Chair David Lee responded by pointing to financial realities facing both governments.
“One of the things I think has to be considered is that in our budget cycle, we did not budget for this kind of thing,” Lee said. He added that the city may be in the same position. “It’s just pure speculation on my part, but it may be one of those things where they’re waiting for their next budget cycle so they can budget it.”
That speculation is correct.
Iola Council members warned Strickler when they approved a position last fall, that they would not have any budgeted funds for a recycling venture until 2027.
Strickler agreed the budget issue was real but said it should not prevent progress. He argued that recycling could be done without additional cost by reallocating labor and equipment.
