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Kosciusko County's Solid Waste district director said they will look at the possibility of a curbside recycling program.
Plans remain distant and are in the discussion stages, but Marsha Eikenberry said she hopes to learn more about possible options.
There are various ways to set up curbside programs, but Eikenberry said she wants to assess each community's interest and existing programs before making any kind of proposal.
"That's something that will take some time," she said.
Currently, countywide recycling relies on voluntary cooperation and the use of recycling dropoff sites.
But the town of Pierceton already has a curbside program operated through its garbage hauler. The recyclables are collected monthly.
Another town, Etna Green, has discussed the idea for nearly a year.
Part of the decision making on that issue will involve the citizens advisory committee, which includes 12 people and reviews proposals for the district.
While curbside might be considered for a community, it would likely never be intended on a countywide basis, Eikenberry said.
A curbside program would be one way to boost the level of recycling in the county. Participation declined in the past year. Eikenberry declined to provide statistics, but said the reports from the hauler were down significantly.
She said she will be watching statistics closely for a few months to see if participation improves.
One factor that might be responsible for the decline was the change in location of some recycling centers. Twelve of the sites changed locations or were discontinued.
"Maybe there were a couple of months where people didn't know what to do with it," Eikenberry said.
"I'll be curious to see what happens in the next couple months and what kind of numbers we get," she said.
Eikenberry has other ideas that might be employed in her first year as director.
An advertising campaign will be used to publicize the new dropoff sites.
Eikenberry said she also wants to work closer with schools in establishing more educational efforts.
She said she also wants to see more schools begin recycling.
The agency received a $12,000 grant this month from the state of Indiana.
Eikenberry said the money will be used in five areas involving education and promotion.
The grant is funded and administered by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
