Editorial: Recycling

The trash recycling program in the city of Naples is not going to end after all.

The city's private contractor, Waste Management, has agreed to extend service for three months at a 200 percent rate hike — steep but still less than the 300 to 400 percent increases that gave city officials sticker shock before they announced curtailment of recycling as one option for coping.

City officials say the extension gives Naples time to buy its own equipment and add staff, and applies to all current recycling customers — curbside, multifamily and commercial.

It is easy to understand City Hall's shock and disappointment when it saw the sharply increased estimates from Waste Management for a long-term extension on its contract. It is also understandable that resale markets for recyclable materials have ups and downs.

Yet, we doubt whether city residents would have been able to accept throwing away recyclables the same as other household garbage and knowing it is being trucked to the landfill. For citizens in Naples and beyond, who have been told for so long that recycling is important, it would be a hard habit to break.

Thank goodness city officials sensed that too, and are going an extra mile — or two — to get the job done.