September 15, 2017: The Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce announced this morning at the Quarterly Coffee that it is ending its long-standing program of recycling of bottles and cans for the community of Clear Lake.
One Vision, formerly known as Opportunity Village, helped the Chamber as a partner in recycling for years. The Village supplied the labor and location to do the actual recycling and also collected the cans and bottles. One Vision is now going in a different direction, with personnel reassigned, and lost a considerable amount of money in recycling last year.
The Chamber tried to look for other partners, and were not successful. So the Chamber decided to end its participation in the community recycling program.
Tim Coffey, Chamber President and CEO said, “Right now, it’s not sustainable. If we find the right reliable partners, we could resurrect the program again, but it is hard to match the dedication and work that One Vision did when they partnered with us for many years. The bottom line is the state legislature needs to increase the redemption fee to make recycling worth pursuing and to cover costs.”
The Chamber used its portion of funds from recycling to help pay for the 4th of July fireworks for the community.
Grocery stores are mandated by law to accept up to 120 bottles and cans per individual per day to recycle.