Prays no landfill will be placed there

Dear Editor:

I lived in McKowns Mountain Community in my early years and my family still lives there. My first ancestors in the area settled on the south side of Broad River at Abingdon Creek in 1768. I am concerned about the future of the community and pray no landfill will be placed there.

Let us be sure we understand what is being proposed to be located in Cherokee County as a landfill and recycling center.

Landfills are where both residential and commercial garbage is sent.

Recycling is the process of taking a product at the end of its useful life and using all or part of it to make another product. Waste Management will not process any recyclable materials at the proposed landfill site in Cherokee County. The site will simply be a collection station.

South Carolina has 18 (eighteen) landfills according to DHEC's Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling. South Carolina Estimated 2006 Population: 4,321,249 according to the S.C. Budget and Control Board.

Look at other states and see what they have. An example is Maryland.

There are 6 (six) landfills in the state of Maryland according to Maryland Landfills/Garbage Dumps in Maryland found on the Internet. Maryland Estimated 2006 Population: 5,615,727 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Most counties in Maryland have regulations requiring citizens to recycle. Below is a section of an article which appeared in the Montgomery Gazette, Montgomery County, MD published 15 Feb., 2005:

Businesses that fail to recycle could receive a notice of violation, which would contain specific steps that should be taken, she said.

If there is no improvement, the regulations contain a $100 fine for a first offense. Then it's $150 a day until the problem is solved, Kao said.

The policies and the regulations are part of an effort to increase recycling in Montgomery County, which is now at about 38 percent. The county has long had a goal of recycling 50 percent of its waste.

Encourage the citizens of South Carolina to recycle but do not hide behind the collection of recyclable materials in order to add yet another landfill to our beautiful state. Peggy Humphries Dillard McKowns Mountain Community Property Owner