TURTLECREEK TWP. — Curbside recycling will end this week for 1,360 households in six Warren County townships.

        “It's a concern,” said Dana Storts, director of solid waste for the county. “We're putting valuable recyclables into a landfill.”

        Rumpke is canceling its weekly pickup of aluminum cans, glass bottles and other recyclables because of low participation and the expense of operating in far-flung rural areas, company spokeswoman Amanda Wilson said Thursday.

        The service ends Monday for residents of Turtlecreek, Salem, Hamilton, Union, Clearcreek and Franklin townships who pay Rumpke to pick up their trash. Rumpke will continue to offer curbside recycling in more densely populated Deerfield Township.

        Longtime Turtlecreek resident Nancy Fields is upset about the change but blames society more than Rumpke.

        “It's really an issue of awareness and concern,” Ms. Fields said. “It's a responsibility of every citizen to be more aware of what we're doing to our planet.”

        Rumpke estimates that 1,360 of its 7,800 households in the six townships recycled, Ms. Wilson said.

        Township residents hire their own garbage haulers, but Rumpke is the only one that operates countywide, Ms. Storts said, and had been the only one that offered recycling along with garbage pickup.

        One option the Turtlecreek trustees are kicking around is to take bids for a single township-wide provider that would commit to taking recyclables. That's how cities such as Mason and Lebanon operate.

        Another option is to set up sites where residents could drop off recyclables. However, the county's previous attempt at running dropoff locations was expensive and messy, Ms. Storts said.

        And Ms. Fields hasn't given up trying to change Rumpke's mind. She said she would be willing to pay a higher fee to keep recycling.

        “What is the answer?” Ms. Fields said. “I, of course, don't know, but if we can send someone to the moon, we can resolve these other issues.

        “But it has to be an effort on the part of the majority of the people.”

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