Beautify campaign kicks into gear for Earth Day It was 14 months ago that Southern Illinois seemed to launch itself into a full-scale cleanup program with the formation of the Beautify Southern Illinois Campaign.

The emphasis has been on cleaning up roadways and creating education programs to enlighten the public about keeping Southern Illinois beautiful.

While the campaign is new, the thought is not, said Paul Restivo, director of the Center for Environmental Health and Safety at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale.

Restivo said the Beautify Southern Illinois Student Alliance was formed in 2000 with the idea of cleaning up the area and has held several cleanups and education programs, but it took now-SIU President Glenn Poshard and a press conference to really push it forward, Restivo said.

"We're not the first people that thought about beautifying the region," Restivo said. "But we were the first people to say, 'let's facilitate this.'"

While Restivo can point to success stories of the campaign - such as a new cleanup program in Williamson County, 750 miles of roadway adopted

for cleanup in Southern Illinois and several educational workshops that now have waiting lists - each county differs in exactly where it is when it
comes to cleanup awareness and recycling efforts.

Jackson County would seem light years away from some of the southernmost counties in Southern Illinois when it comes to a coordinated effort.

Bart Hagston, solid waste manager for the Jackson County Health Department, said an ordinance adopted in Jackson County in 1997 says waste haulers are required to offer curbside recycling to single-family residences within municipalities.

Waste haulers also are required to report back twice a year the amount of recyclable material collected.

In 1992, when data was first collected in Jackson County, only 4,022 tons of the 62,579 tons of waste collected was recycled, or roughly 6 percent of all waste collected in the county.

In 2002, 14,199 tons of the 59,051 tons collected countywide were recycled - a rate of 24 percent.

But in 2005, the rate dropped off slightly with 18,025 tons recycled out of a total 77,402 tons: 23 percent.

"Every year we've increased in recycled material," Hagston said. "But it goes in line with total solid waste (increases)."

The health department has added the title of a recycling education coordinator to help implement educational programs in the schools and now
the county is looking at building a household (hazardous) chemical collection facility.

But Hagston said he would like to see more done. He thinks residents should somehow be required to take part in the recycling service or trash
collection fees should be unit-based. That way, he said, it encourages someone to put out more recyclable materials so their trash collection costs
less.

"I don't know how it's going to play out," he said.

But in the southern seven counties, authorities said they would be happy to offer any sort of recycling program. Currently, there is no regional
program, said Crystal Davenport, regional planner with the Southern Five Regional Planning Commission.

"We're trying to initiate that with all the communities," she said, noting that Anna and Metropolis do have recycling programs.

The biggest obstacle to accomplishing this goal is money, she said.

"Communities down here are just too poor and can't afford the bins," Davenport said. "It's going to take programs; it's going to take a lot of
community support."

Brad Rendleman, environmental health director for the Southern Seven Health Department, said while many of the southern area's illegal dump sites have been removed, a vast majority of those in Union, Johnson, Massac, Pulaski, Pope, Hardin, and Alexander counties don't have a place to turn.

"The problem's there, but there's just not any initiative to get it going," Rendleman said, also noting that he wasn't aware of the Beautify Southern
Illinois Campaign.

But the story in Williamson County is much different.

County Commissioner Brent Gentry said when he took office in November 2004 he already had the idea for cleaning up Williamson County in mind. He said after Poshard's push, he finally got the ball rolling.

"I felt like this was something that needed to be done," he said.

In the last year, Williamson County has hosted four dump days, where trash containers have been set out at locations across the county and 28 county roads were adopted for cleanup as well.

"Believe me, they come out of the woodwork for it," he said. "We're making progress."

And while progress is good, Gentry said a lot more needs to be done. The county currently does not have a solid waste manager in place; but one
should be hired by the end of the summer.That is one of things Restivo and his staff said they are hoping for - continual progress. He said he doesn't want to see the energy just dissipate.

"I'd be sad if it were to fizzle out," he said. "But I'd also be shocked."

Restivo said the campaign is setting up a not-for-profit account so that donations can be accepted. He and others are also continuing to write grants.

"I don't think you're going to be able to slow it down for a long time," he said.