With the introduction of the Selma Recycling Program, it’s time for the community to take notice of just how important recycling is, and the benefits of taking out just an insignificant amount of time to participate in the practice.

The benefits of recycling to the community are many — some immediate, some long-term.

For starters, recycling things such as plastic, glass, and paper are good for the environment — local and otherwise — because not only could those materials harm children and animals, but chemicals from any un-recycled material left lying around could be harmful by finding its way into the city’s water supply.

Speaking of trash just left lying around, too many times have we witnessed random bottles, paper, or Styrofoam cups thrown out windows or lying in someone’s yard with no regard for just how bad it looks.

Indeed, recycling can also help in the city’s efforts to keep Selma beautiful. Often times, the opinions of visitors on what they think of a city are based on first impressions and what a city looks like. Clean streets go a long way in terms of the perception of a city.

Finally, recycling is just an economically sound way to get rid of trash. Recycling the aforementioned materials saves money in that they go toward producing new material at a lower cost. Not to mention it means less trash to send off to area landfills, some of which are already low on space.

The next time you go to throw away something that can be recycled, think how easy it would be to capitalize on these benefits.