Why Can't Reston Recycle?

          Surely you’d think in a place like progressive Reston, recycling would be routine, right?  As you go around Reston, the place we think of as one of America’s top planned communities, count the number of handy recycling receptacles you encounter for the tons of plastic, glass and metal objects we discard daily.  Look closely on Washington Plaza at Lake Anne, by the stores and Community Center at Hunters Woods, at South Lakes Center, at the North Point strip center, and at the Spectrum strip mall.  None, you say?!

          However, you will find thousands of tossed plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and glass bottles in and around the centers, along the pathways, and floating or submerged in our otherwise lovely lakes. 

          This is in sad contrast with our reputation and with our own self image as a community.  Reston Association, our homeowners’ group and the closest thing we have to local government, doesn’t seem to regard recycling as a priority.  The businesses and condo associations at the commercial centers provide minimal general trash cans, and have declined to recycle even when encouraged to do so.  Reston Environmental Action (REACT), a hardworking nonprofit has had considerable success persuading Reston clusters and homeowners to recycle, but has been rebuffed by the businesses and condo association that oversee the commercial centers. 

          These centers generate a tremendous amount of the plastic, glass and metal that we find strewn along the pathways, in our yards and in our lakes.  One result is a trashy appearance; the other is regrettable environmental damage.  It is in the community’s interest to encourage those responsible for the centers to introduce systematic recycling of the unsightly and destructive trash they generate. 

          How can we make this happen in Reston?  What would it take to convince the owners, managers of all the centers to make recycling a reality?  Thus far, they are unwilling to do it on their own.  Why couldn’t the Reston Association take the initiative and provide recycling service at the centers?  Or, why couldn’t RA and the centers combine their efforts to make it happen?  For example, the centers could buy their own attractive receptacles appropriate to the décor of each center and RA could fund the pick-up and recycling services—perhaps even at a profit?

          RA is presently considering a major increase in our annual assessments for the coming year.  To date, the justification for any increase, much less a big one, is not compelling.  Making recycling throughout Reston a reality could give RA’s credibility for doing so a needed boost.  And recycling is a basic service missing for too long in Reston.

          Recycling is yet another example of something that would be routine if we were self-governing, i.e., if we finally realized Founder Robert Simon’s dream of Reston being a town!