Our Town Schuyler: Colfax County Recycling Facility

By: Lance Schwartz - Email

Updated: Fri 6:38 PM, Feb 22, 2013

Our Town Schuyler has been going green and going strong for the past decade. Joan Mejstrik has been leading the charge to keep Schuyler beautiful from the beginning.

The number of people recycling in Schuyler has picked up steadily over the past decade. When the facility opened in 2003 approximately 3000 vehicles went through the front door. But in 2013, more than 10,000 vehicles visited the Colfax County Recycling Facility.

Joan adds, "Plus the people that are coming in are bringing more product. When we first opened they'd bring a little in and now what people bring in it seems like there is so much product coming in."

Joan has found that there is just a new way of thinking and it starts with the kids, "It is a good feeling, especially when I go to the schools and do public education at the school and then I see those same kids coming out here with their parents and telling them what to do. A lot of these parents do not speak English and so these kids are teaching them."

Joan finds the new recycling mindset refreshing, "When I go to school I tell them when your parents were your age you did not recycle. I grew up on a farm and we threw it in a ditch. Now my dad is 87 years old, he comes and brings his recyclables out here."

Local Family Impacted By Oklahoma Tornado, Local Groups Reach Out to Help