Providing for the common defense.

Largely to their credit, many recyclers have been able to accept, endure and intelligently rebut some criticism that has been directed their way regarding municipal recycling.

Taxpayer watchdogs are not always fond of recycling programs, and (unfortunately) can find ample ammunition if scrutinizing a program that was either poorly conceived, is poorly managed or has not kept up with changes in the packaging industry or commodity end markets.

The best way to rebut these arguments and withstand the scrutiny, then, is to provide the appropriate amount of management attention to a recycling program. Even in municipal programs where private contractors perform most of the work, government administrators can earn their "guardian of the public trust" stripes by learning at every opportunity about the recycling industry and the basic materials markets it serves.

Many recycling programs were born out of a desire to preserve natural resources and divert material from landfills. While these are worthy goals, there may be spending limits to the support taxpayers give to meet these goals.

Taxpayers are far less likely to grumble if what they observe is a program that collects materials without noticeably inconveniencing residents and without causing the Solid Waste Department budget to swell to unheard-of levels.

There are many knowledgeable solid waste and recycling program managers who have performed these duties well, often under budget constraints that are imposed because of wider municipal fiscal issues.

At Recycling Today, our aim is to continue to provide these program managers and supervisors with end market information that can help them shape programs that stand up to the scrutiny.

Without question, there is a lot to monitor when considering recycling collection goals (keeping on top of packaging trends), processing methods (single-stream pros and cons) and end markets (the health of the paper, plastics and metals industries).

Few managers can expect to devote all their time to research, so they must delegate their reading time wisely when staying in touch with recycling industry conditions.

Through news items and feature articles in our magazine and posted on vwvw.RecyclingToday.com, as well as through the topics presented at our Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show in June in Atlanta (and in supplements like this one), we will strive to help managers stay current in a business climate that changes every day.