McGinnis’ rant boosts recycling support
IRC received favorable comments for local program
State Rep. John McGinnis’ rant against recycling at the most recent Logan Township supervisors meeting didn’t go unnoticed at a meeting Tuesday of the organization that operates curbside recycling programs in the four Blair County municipalities mandated by the state to do so.
McGinnis, R-Altoona, told the township supervisors that the mandate should be eliminated, that recycling is a state-sponsored “environmental religion,” “inimical to property rights” and that it should operate by the free market or not at all.
“(Those assertions) might have been disheartening to many,” said IRC Executive Director John Frederick on Tuesday. But probably no other situation has ever generated so many favorable comments for the organization’s program via emails, phone calls and personal interactions at subsequent events, Frederick told board members.
They show that the cause has more widespread support in this area than people realize, he said.
Those who favor a sustainable approach to living as reflected by the practice of recycling can point out social, environmental and economic benefits — and virtually everyone can be helped on at least one of those counts, said IRC Chairman Erik Cagle.
The cash-flow-challenged IRC needs to “keep plugging away” with local lawmakers to convince them not only that its mission is valid, but that it needs state support to make ends meet, so it can fulfill that mission, Cagle indicated.
“Hear, hear,” Frederick said.
At the township meeting, McGinnis touted a House plan to actually take money from the state’s recycling fund — and various other funds — to help plug a massive state budget hole, which would only exacerbate the financial problems for organizations like the IRC.
Absent a market to sell recyclables, the practice is “nonsense put out by the hippies of the ’60s,” McGinnis said then.
“I would like to ask Rep. McGinnis to reconsider (his views),” said committee member Jim Patterson, Logan Township supervisors chairman on Tuesday. “Maybe he could help create more markets,” which would make recycling work on his own terms, Patterson added.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.