FOLEY, Ala. — Those on hand for a public meeting on Monday regarding a new recycling effort by the City of Foley were overwhelmingly in favor of the proposed program. As Mayor John Koniar pointed out, however, the unofficial straw poll he conducted among those on hand was a small sampling, indeed, and citizens’ feelings as a whole regarding recycling remain to be seen.

Koniar also pointed out that, should the city not be awarded the $250,000 Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) grant for which it is applying, increasing recycling efforts is a moot point. “If we don’t get the grant, we won’t have the funds to do this,” he said.

He referred to “changing habits,” that being moving from the current two days a week of regular household garbage collection to one day a week and one day a week for collection of recyclables. Again, that depends on getting the grant, which requires no matching funds by the city.

Stan Mahoney, executive director of Wolf Bay Watershed Watch, called the city’s proposal to expand recycling a “great idea.” Mahoney, who lives on Bay View Drive West, said WBWW’s board of directors supports the city’s efforts to expand its recycling program.

Mahoney told the mayor and council that he would like to see the items that would be recycled under the ADEM-funded program expanded to include other recyclables, including tin cans and glass.

The city’s Sanitation Department Supervisor Butch Bledsoe said the primary problem with recycling glass is that it has to be ground down. To date, the city hasn’t been able to find anyone to handle that aspect of its recycling efforts.

As for tin, Bledsoe said the city will be getting a magnet that can be utilized in separating tin from steel. The city is currently picking up such recyclable material as cardboard, newspapers and plastic bottles with the exception of anti-freeze and motor oil containers where the latter is concerned.

“We need to get in some kind of coordinated program with the schools …,” said Mike Siano of Mark Twain Loop. He was referring to the creation of an educational base to promote the importance of recycling, a point with which the mayor agreed.

Koniar asked that a number of e-mails he had received in connection with the proposed recycling efforts be made part of the public record. Those e-mails were “overwhelmingly in support of the (recycling) effort,” he said.

Councilman Charlie Ebert III said some people he has talked with from large households might need a second garbage can for household garbage should the city go to one day a week collection.

Councilwoman Vera Quaites said she has received positive comments from citizens regarding the recycling proposal.

Bledsoe said, should the ADEM grant be approved for the purchase of full-size recycling cans, it would take six to eight months to get those to citizens. The city’s deadline to apply for the ADEM grant was March 1.